A Paragon and A Renegade
by skiski
Summary: What if Commander Shepard had a twin? What if the twin was also a commander? One male, one female. One a beloved hero, one feared. A Mass Effect playthrough with twins! Includes some shenko-rific romance! ME1 & ME2 spoilers galore!
1. The Beginning

**DISCLAIMER:** Mass Effect belongs to Bioware. I don't own any of the ideas or characters except for my twin Sheps. Some dialogue from the game is in the story so props to the ME writers.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** This story is the result of an idea that randomly popped into my head one day. What if there were _two_ Shepards? Twins? And since I can't seem to write a story without including some romance, and since I heart Kaidan bunches, there's a lot of Shenko (though boy Shep will get some lovin' too . . . eventually).

* * *

When Cade Shepard was told he had been handpicked for a special assignment, he had only only requested one thing: that his twin sister, Allegra, was also a part of the mission. It was a rare thing for Commander Shepard, beloved war hero of all humanity, to be refused a request. So it was no surprise to anyone when the other Commander Shepard was transferred to Cade's team.

The rest of the team, however, were not as thrilled about having Allegra Shepard around as they were Cade. Allegra was a good soldier, but she was ruthless. She'd gotten her whole team killed on Torfan and was a force to be reckoned with. That made the crew nervous; having a leader that might be their death sentence wasn't something they generally looked forward to.

When it came time for the Alliance's new warship, the Normandy, to disembark, there was a relative unease throughout the crew. Corporal Jenkins muttered to Lieutenant Alenko, "I don't know which Shepard I'm more nervous to meet. One has me in awe over his abilities, and the other scares the holy shit out of me."

"She's still a good soldier," Kaidan replied. He got why everyone was nervous to meet the legendary twin Shepards, but he didn't know why they were so frightened of Allegra. She wasn't going to randomly shoot one of them in the head. She wasn't crazy.

The crew gathered on the docking platform for the arrival of the two Commanders and Captain Anderson. The steady murmur of voices suddenly hushed when the three officers appeared on the platform. Captain Anderson led the small group, a very serious expression plastered on his face. Cade came next, wearing a slight grin, and Allegra followed, a deep frown marring her otherwise beautiful face.

Kaidan was always surprised by just how pretty Allegra Shepard was. Her reputation led people to believe she was a horrible monster, in looks and personality. He remembered the first time he had seen her on a news vid. He hadn't been able to get the image of her out of his head for weeks.

Looking at the two Shepards together, it was hard to tell that they were twins. Cade had dark brown hair and blue eyes, while Allegra had blonde hair and green eyes. Every feature was slightly different, even the way they held themselves. The only similarity between the two was their noses. They both had slender, slightly up-turned noses.

Kaidan watched the three officers board the Normandy. The crew filed in behind them, each person going straight to his or her station. Kaidan sat down in the empty seat next to Joker, who hadn't had to leave the ship for the officer's arrival.

"I'm surprised she doesn't have horns," Joker wise-cracked to Kaidan.

"You might not want to talk to her like that," Kaidan advised.

"Pfft," Joker laughed. "I'm sure she's heard worse."

Joker prepared the Normandy for take-off, Kaidan helping from the co-pilots chair. They successfully left Earth behind, flying up into space, eager to test the new ship out. They were scheduled to run a few different tests each day in various areas of space. For today they were simply flying, getting a feel for the ship and each other.

It was a few hours into flight that a sudden voice behind Kaidan and Joker made them both jump.

"I hear you're the best pilot in the Alliance, Lieutenant Moreau."

The boys spun in their chairs to see Allegra Shepard standing there, her arms crossed over her chest.

"Can I ask you a few questions?" she wondered.

"You did a background check on me, didn't you?" Joker groaned. Allegra's stony expression didn't change, but Joker continued. "Well, I'll tell you what I told the captain. You want me as your pilot. I'm the best damn helmsman in the Alliance fleet! I was top of my class in flight school and have tons of commendations. I earned everything. Nothing was given to me out of charity because of my disease."

Kaidan settled in for the discussion. Joker was pretty touchy when it came to his condition; the commander was going to get an earful.

"You're sick?" she questioned.

"You mean – you mean you don't know? Ah, crap," Joker muttered. "Okay . . . I've got Vrolik's Syndrome. Brittle bone disease. Basically the bones in my legs never developed correctly, they're pretty much hollow shells. If I put too much force on them they'll snap like little baby twigs. All very dramatic. I've been able to manage it, Commander. Put the Normandy in my hands and I'll make her dance for you. Just don't ask _me_ to get up and dance. Unless, you know, you like the sound of snapping shin bones."

Allegra smiled. Kaidan could hardly believe it. Joker had managed to make her smile! Kaidan had _never_ seen her smile before. Even Joker seemed impressed with himself.

"Why does everyone call you Joker?" Allegra asked.

"It's a lot shorter than saying Alliance Flight Lieutenant Jeff Moreau. Plus, I love to make little children laugh."

Allegra snorted. "I was just thinking how much you remind me of Santa Claus."

"Look, I didn't pick the name," Joker replied. "One of the instructors in flight school used to bug me about never smiling. She started calling me Joker, and it stuck."

"Why didn't you ever smile?"

"Why don't _you_ ever smile?" Joker countered.

"Touché," Allegra replied.

Joker sighed. "I worked my ass off in flight school, Commander. The world's not going to hand you anything if you go around grinning like an idiot."

"That's the truth," Allegra muttered.

"I was the best pilot in the Academy," Joker continued. "That includes the instructors. Everyone got their asses kicked by the kid with wobbly little legs. I was the happiest one at graduation."

Allegra gave him a half-grin. "You're not going to break a bone trying to fly the ship, are you?" she teased.

"Uh, I don't fly with my feet, Commander," Joker teased right back. "So I'm fine as long as I'm in this chair. I gotta be real careful when I get up to take a piss, though. I can do my job as well as anyone else on the ship. Better, actually, so don't worry about it."

Kaidan watched the pair of them amusedly. He never would have guessed that Joker and Allegra Shepard would have gotten on so well.

"You know, I'm starting to like you, Joker," Allegra said.

"Joy," Joker replied, deadpan.

"Lieutenant Alenko," Allegra said, turning her bright green eyes on Kaidan. "You're a biotic, aren't you?"

"Yes, ma'am," he replied.

"And you know your abilities well? You're good to have in a fight?"

"I reckon so, ma'am."

"But you're not positive?"

"Uh," Kaidan stammered.

"I guess we'll just have to hope nothing goes wrong then," she commented before swiftly turning on her heel to go scare someone else.

"Why does she like you so much and seem to hate me?" Kaidan groaned.

"You've got to be more confident in your abilities," Joker laughed. "Try joking with her. She seems to like that. Besides, I don't see why you're so worried about it."

"She is one of our commanding officers. I don't want her to think that I don't deserve to be here."

"And her being a gorgeous woman has nothing to do with it?" Joker asked casually.

"What?" Kaidan gaped at him.

"You can't tell me you haven't noticed," Joker laughed. "She's hot."

"Just get back to flying the ship, Joker," Kaidan replied, tuning him out.

* * *

Allegra Shepard sat at the table in the mess, watching various crew members try to avoid her. She was a little surprised by how wary of her they were. Most people were a little scared of her after news of what had occurred on Torfan spread, but she had never had a crew so terrified of her that they couldn't even glance in her direction.

She blamed Cade. Compared to him, she was a horrible monster. He was the freaking hero of Elysium after risking his life to save so many others. Allegra had saved countless lives too. Just because the batarians had surrendered didn't mean they were going to give up their terrorizing. Only death would have stopped them from ever attacking more human colonies, so Allegra had killed them. It was a sensible decision. Unfortunately her actions had cause most of her unit to be killed as well. A regrettable mistake that she didn't enjoy having thrust back into her face all the time. If she could take it back, she would. But, as they say, hindsight is always 20/20.

Allegra glanced over as someone settled in the chair next to her. Cade. She should have figured. Her brother was the only one on this ship who would talk to her.

"I hear you've been terrorizing the crew," he greeted brightly.

"Terrorizing? I've been asking them questions about themselves. Getting to know them. Since when is that terrorizing?" Allegra asked.

"When you're the one asking the questions," he replied with a grin.

"They're all spineless," Allegra commented with a frown.

"I heard you talked to Joker. Did his sarcastic wit have you moist in your womanly parts?"

"Gross, don't say things like that to me. You're my brother and it's completely disgusting."

Cade laughed. "So you're quite taken with him then?"

"Yes, I'm planning our wedding," Allegra replied, rolling her eyes.

"Better keep the ceremony short. I would hate to see him break his legs on your wedding day."

"You're not very funny," Allegra commented.

"Oh, that hurt."

"Good."

"What about the rest of the crew? How do you feel about them?" Cade asked.

Allegra leaned back in her chair and studied her fingernails. "Jenkins seems all right. Very eager to prove himself, though. Alenko needs to get some backbone. He really lacks on confidence."

"He seemed confident enough to me. Maybe you just scare him."

"Wouldn't be the first time."

Cade chuckled. "I'm sure he'll come around. In the meantime, how about you don't relentlessly attack him with questions that make him doubt himself? Be nice to him and he'll realize you're actually a very likeable person."

"Oh, words of wisdom from the almighty war hero?"

"I only give the best advice," Cade grinned. "Anyway, I came to tell you that we're taking the Mako planet-side later today so be prepared."

Allegra nodded and watched Cade walk away. She would be so glad when all this testing was over and they could get a real mission. She itched for some action.

* * *

About a week later, the crew learned they were traveling to Eden Prime. Excitement ran rampant throughout the ship. Eden Prime was a beautiful paradise and they all hoped they would have some time to lounge around on the planet.

Cade Shepard, however, was doubtful about why they were going to Eden Prime. The captain had said they needed to test the stealth systems, but why on Eden Prime? And why had they picked up a turian Spectre a few days ago? Cade knew the Alliance had built the Normandy with the turian's help, but he was surprised they wanted a turian Spectre on board for the testing. And then there was the fact that Nihlus seemed to be wherever Cade was. Always watching him. It creeped Cade out at the same time making him terribly excited. A Spectre would only be watching Cade so closely if the Council had plans to make Cade a Spectre.

The first human Spectre. That would be a title Cade could get used to. In his early years of being in the Alliance, Cade had often dreamt of one day being a Spectre, never thinking he might actually get a shot at it. Allegra would be so pissed if Cade was recruited by the Spectres and she wasn't.

Grinning to himself, Cade slowly made his way up to the front of the ship. Any minute now they would be arriving at the mass relay that would take them straight to Eden Prime. Cade had always loved traveling through the relays, and wanted to be at the very front of the ship as it made it first voyage through one. As he maneuvered his way through the crew, he listened to Joker's status announcements.

"The Arcturus Prime Relay is in range, initiating transmission sequence," Joker said. "We are connected. Calculating transit mass and destination."

Cade finally made it to the cockpit. Allegra was already there, standing behind Lieutenant Alenko's chair. Cade took the empty spot behind Joker's chair.

"The relay is hot," Joker announced. "Acquiring approach vector. All stations secure for transit. The board is green. Approach run has begun. Hitting the relay in 3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . ."

The Normandy moved quickly through the relay. Cade smiled at the sudden dropped feeling in the pit of his stomach. He glanced at Allegra and noticed a similar expression on her face. Before long, they were safely on the other side of the relay.

"Thrusters . . . check. Navigation . . . check," Joker called, checking all the sensors. "Internal emissions sink engaged. All systems online. Drift . . . just under 1500 K."

"1500 is good. Your captain will be pleased."

Cade looked over sharply. He hadn't even heard Nihlus approach, yet there he was, standing between Cade and Allegra. And just as quickly as he had arrived, he left.

"I hate that guy," Joker muttered as soon as Nihlus was out of earshot.

"Nihlus gave you a compliment . . . so you hate him?" Kaidan chuckled.

"You remember to zip up your jumpsuit on the way out of the bathroom? That's good," Joker replied, hotly. "I just jumped us halfway across the galaxy and hit a target the size of a pinhead. So that's incredible. Besides, Spectres are trouble. I don't like having him on board. Call me paranoid."

"You're paranoid. The Council helped fund this project. They have a right to send someone to keep an eye on their investment."

"Yeah, that is the official story. But only an idiot believes the official story."

"You always expect the worst," Cade told Joker.

"Well, bad feelings are part of my job. You know we don't go anywhere unless we have a damn good reason to, so what are we doing out here?" Joker asked.

"Joker, status report," Captain Anderson's voice rang out suddenly.

"Just cleared the mass relay, Captain. Stealth systems engaged. Everything looks solid," Joker stated.

"Good. Find a comm buoy and link us into the network. I want mission reports relayed back to Alliance brass before we reach Eden Prime."

"Aye, aye, Captain. Better brace yourself, sir. I think Nihlus is headed your way."

"He's already here, Lieutenant. Tell Commander Shepard to meet me in the comm room for a debriefing."

"Which one?" Joker asked.

"Cade," came the short reply.

"You get that, Commander?" Joker asked Cade.

"I'm on my way," Cade announced, spinning on his heel.

"Pfft, is it me or does the captain always sound a little pissed off?" he heard Joker ask.

"Only when he's talking to you, Joker," Kaidan replied.

Cade smiled to himself as he headed for the comm room. He nodded a greeting as he passed Navigator Pressly, and stopped very briefly to say hello to Doctor Chakwas and Corporal Jenkins. Arriving in the comm room, he was surprised to see only Nihlus standing there.

Nihlus turned as Cade entered, saying, "Commander Shepard, I was hoping you'd get here first. It will give us a chance to talk."

"Where's the captain?" Cade asked.

"He's on his way," Nihlus assured. "Tell me about where we're going – Eden Prime. I've heard it's quite beautiful."

"They say it's a paradise," Cade answered, wondering what the turian was up to.

"Yes . . . a paradise. Eden Prime has become something of a symbol for your people, hasn't it? It shows that you can protect the colonies you establish all across the galaxy. But is it really as safe as you think?"

Nihlus was acting sort of shifty. "Do you know something?" Cade asked, taking a step towards the Spectre.

"Your people are still newcomers, Shepard. The galaxy can be a very dangerous place. Is the Alliance truly ready for this?"

Before Cade could get a chance to reply, Captain Anderson strolled into the comm room. "I think it's about time we told the commander what's really going on," he greeted.

"This mission is far more than a simple shakedown run," Nihlus announced.

Hah! Cade knew it! "I figured there was something you weren't telling us."

"We're making a covert pick-up on Eden Prime. That's why we needed the stealth systems operational," Captain Anderson explained. "A Prothean beacon was recently unearthed by a research team on Eden Prime."

Prothean? But they had died out 50,000 years ago. What was technology of theirs doing in a place like Eden Prime?

Nihlus reminded Cade that the mass relays and the Citadel were based on Prothean technology.

"This is big, Shepard," Anderson added. "The last time humanity made a discovery like this, it jumped our technology forward two hundred years. But the beacon isn't safe on Eden Prime. We need to bring it back to the Citadel to keep it safe and so it can be studied properly."

"This discovery could affect every species in Council space," Nihlus said. "It's hugely important."

Well, it was good thing Nihlus was on board, Cade figured. He said as much to the turian.

"The beacon's not the only reason I'm here, Shepard," Nihlus replied.

"Nihlus wants to see you in action, Commander. He's here to evaluate you," Anderson explained.

Evalute him? The Council really was thinking of making Cade a Spectre! That would be a huge advance for humanity. "Guess that explains why I bump into him every time I turn around," Cade joked to hide his sudden nervousness.

"The Alliance has been pushing for this for a long time. Humanity wants a larger role in shaping interstellar policy. We want more say with the Citadel Council," Anderson said. "The Spectres represent the Council's power and authority. If they accept a human into their ranks, it shows how far the Alliance has come."

"You held off an enemy assault during the Blitz single-handed," Nihlus interrupted. "You showed not only courage but also incredible skill. That's why I put your name forward as a candidate for the Spectres."

Cade blanched. A _turian _had put a _human's_ name forward? Cade must have really impressed Nihlus.

"Earth needs this, Shepard," Anderson told him. "We're counting on you."

"I need to see your skills for myself, Commander," Nihlus continued. "Eden Prime will be the first of several missions together."

Cade was beginning to get very excited. He couldn't even imagine what Allegra would say to him when she found out Cade could very possibly become a Spectre! She was going to rip his throat out in a jealous rage!

"You'll be in charge of the ground team," Anderson was saying. "All you need to do is secure the beacon and get it back to the ship. Nihlus will join you to observe you in action."

"Just give the word, Captain," Cade replied.

"We should be getting close to Eden-"

"Captain! We've got a problem," Joker interrupted.

"What's wrong, Joker?"

"Transmission from Eden Prime, sir. You'd better see this!"

"Bring it up on screen."

Anderson, Cade and Nihlus all turned to the screen on the far wall of the room. A few seconds later a video began playing of a group of soldiers fighting . . . something. A female soldier ran towards the person filming, yelling, "Get down!" Then she shot into the distance as the camera panned wildly. It finally stopped on another soldier who explained the situation. "We're under attack! Taking heavy casualties. I repeat, heavy casualties! We can't – argh! . . . need evac! They came out of nowhere. We need-" The soldier was shot and he slumped to the ground. The camera panned over to the sky, showing what looked like an enormous ship before the transmission suddenly cut out.

"Everything cuts out after that," Joker announced. "No comm traffic at all. Just goes dead. There's nothing."

"Reverse and hold at 38.5," Anderson ordered.

Joker did so. The image of the mystery ship was frozen on the screen. Cade stared at it, wondering what the hell it was, and why it was attacking Eden Prime.

"Status report!" Anderson suddenly ordered.

"Seventeen minutes out, Captain," Joker hurried to say. "No other Alliance ships in the area."

After a moment's pause, Anderson said, "Take us in, Joker. Fast and quiet. This mission just got a lot more complicated."

"A small strike team can move quickly without drawing attention. It's our best chance to secure the beacon," Nihlus suggested.

"Grab your gear and meet us in the cargo hold," Anderson said. Nihlus quickly turned and walked out of the room. Anderson turned to Cade. "Tell Alenko, Jenkins, and Shepard to suit up, Commander. You're going in."

Cade took one last look at the image still frozen on the screen, nodded curtly, and hurriedly went to find his team.


	2. Eden Prime

Allegra watched Joker and Kaidan bicker good-naturedly back and forth. It was clear the two had already become fast friends even though they hadn't known each other long. A slight pang of jealousy coursed through her. It had never been easy for Allegra to make friends. On the contrary, Cade made instant life-long friends with each and every person he met. There was just something so extremely likeable about him, something Allegra did not possess.

It wasn't that Allegra was _un_likeable, it just took awhile for people to get used to her. Cade told her she had an unapproachable air about her, whatever _that_ meant. Allegra figured she didn't need friends. She didn't have time for them anyway. And subordinates didn't look to you for leadership without question if you were their 'buddy'.

Allegra shook her head to clear her thoughts and focused back on Joker and Kaidan's conversation just in time to hear the comm system beep with an incoming message.

"Message from Eden Prime," Kaidan commented.

"Play it. It might be important," Allegra ordered.

"Yes, ma'am," Joker replied, receiving the transmission.

Allegra, Joker, and Kaidan started at the monitor as the message played. They all wore similar looks of horror and confusion.

"Tell the Captain," Allegra told Joker immediately after the message cut out.

He did so. Allegra pondered this new development. They were supposedly only going to Eden Prime for a simple shakedown run. Although, Allegra hadn't been able to fathom why they would go to Eden Prime to test out their stealth systems. It didn't make any sense. And now Eden Prime was being attacked by something unknown. What the hell had they gotten into?

"I've never seen a ship like that before," Kaidan commented quietly, turning in his seat to face her.

"Nor have I," Allegra replied. "There's something going on that the Captain hasn't told us about. Something important."

"Here comes the commander. Maybe he'll know," Kaidan said.

Allegra spun and, sure enough, Cade was walking quickly up towards the cockpit. "Cade, what the hell-"

"Allegra, Lieutenant Alenko, suit up. I've already let Jenkins know. Be in the cargo hold in five minutes," Cade ordered, interrupting Allegra.

Kaidan immediately stood up and rushed off to grab his gear. Allegra stared at her brother. "I don't like this Cade. Who would attack Eden Prime? What was that ship?"

"I don't know, Allegra," he replied quietly, eyeing Joker.

"Why are we here? This isn't to test out the ship."

"I'll tell you when we have time," Cade promised. "Just get ready."

Allegra rolled her eyes in frustration, but headed down to her locker to grab her things. She quickly slipped into her armor and grabbed her weapons, arriving at the door in the cargo hold as Kaidan did. Jenkins was already there, pacing nervously. Captain Anderson, Nihlus and Cade approached seconds later.

Anderson looked them over. He turned to Cade. "Your team's the muscle in this operation, Commander. Go in heavy and head straight for the dig site."

_Dig site? _ Allegra wondered.

"What about survivors, Captain?" Kaidan spoke up.

"Helping survivors is a secondary objective. The beacon's your top priority."

_Beacon, what beacon? _Allegra looked over at Cade, who seemed to know what the Captain was talking about.

"Approaching drop point one," Joker announced over the intercom.

Nihlus checked his assault rifle one last time then jumped out the open cargo bay door.

"Nihlus will scout out ahead," Anderson explained. "He'll feed you status reports throughout the mission; otherwise, I want radio silence."

"We've got his back, Captain," Cade answered.

"The mission's yours now, Shepard. Good luck."

"We are approaching drop point two," Joker stated.

Cade, Allegra, Kaidan, and Jenkins readied themselves then quickly jumped from the ship to land on Eden Prime.

Once they had all safely landed, Allegra looked around, bringing her assault rifle up. Cade took out his own assault rifle, while Jenkins and Kaidan readied their pistols.

"Ship perimeter secure, Commander," Kaidan said.

"Oh god . . . what happened here?" Jenkins breathed in horror. Everything was burning and bodies littered the ground.

Allegra recalled Jenkins was from Eden Prime. He just better not get too choked up about the situation; it was all their lives on the line here.

"This place got hit hard," Nihlus said over the comms. "Hostiles everywhere. Keep your guard up."

Cade started to lead them away from the drop point. Jenkins followed immediately behind him, with Kaidan and Allegra bringing up the rear.

"Smells like smoke and death," Kaidan murmured to Allegra.

She nodded in silent agreement.

The group hurried on. They crested a small hill and noticed some sort of floating _something_ down near the bottom.

"What the hell are those?" Kaidan wondered.

Allegra shot one and it blew up.

"Damn!" Kaidan yelled in surprise.

"Floating gas bags," Allegra said, answering his question.

"Did you have to shoot it?" Cade asked.

"He wanted to know what it was," Allegra said in defense.

"So you shot it?"

"I'll shoot you if you don't shut up."

"I'd like to see you try."

Allegra glared at Cade. "Will you tell us what we're doing here? I don't think this place was attacked for those gas bags."

Cade sighed and looked into the earnest faces of his team. "All right, fine. Some of the colonists here recently dug up a Prothean beacon."

"Prothean?" Kaidan repeated. "That explains a lot."

"Why all the secrecy?" Allegra asked. "Why not tell us what we were doing here?"

"The captain said it was strictly on a need-to-know basis," Cade replied. "We thought this would be a simple grab-and-go mission, but apparently someone found out about the beacon."

"So they attacked to try to steal it for themselves," Allegra finished.

"Exactly. We have to secure that beacon so it doesn't end up in the wrong hands."

Cade moved them out once more. They hurried along for a few minutes until they came to an area that was more wide open then where they had previously been. The team crouched down behind some rocks, Cade peering around them. He didn't see anything so he motioned for Jenkins to go on ahead.

Jenkins moved from the cover out into the open. Almost immediately a couple of drones appeared and shot at him. Jenkins screamed and fell to the ground. The other three opened fire and quickly took out the drones.

Cade slowly approached Jenkins' body, Allegra and Kaidan close behind him. Kaidan bent down, shaking his head sadly as he closed Jenkins' lifeless eyes. "Ripped right through his shields," Kaidan muttered. "Never had a chance."

"Leave him," Allegra said coldly, looking away. "We need to finish the mission."

Kaidan looked over at her like she was insane, then quickly looked to Cade.

Cade frowned at Allegra. "We'll see that he receives a proper service once the mission is complete."

"Fine," Allegra replied. "Let's move out."

* * *

Kaidan followed the two Shepards silently. He was still pretty shook up about Jenkins' sudden death, and couldn't believe Allegra suggested just leaving him. She really did focus everything she had on a mission. He was glad Cade had stepped up to do what was right.

Further up the hill, a few more drones appeared. Kaidan used his biotic throw on one of them as Allegra and Cade each shot at another.

Their comms crackled with Nihlus' voice, "I've got some burned out buildings here, Shepard. A lot of bodies. I'm going to check it out. I'll try to catch up with you at the dig site."

After destroying a few more drones, they arrived at the top of another hill in time to see a female Alliance soldier running towards them. She was being chased by two drones but she managed to tear down the both of them. She was able to duck behind some rocks just as two robotic troopers appeared.

Cade and Allegra hurried forward to help the soldier fight them off. Kaidan quickly threw up a barrier around them as the troopers opened fire. After a few intense minutes of fighting, the team finally managed to destroy the troopers.

The soldier sighed heavily and lowered her weapon. "Thanks for your help," she said gratefully. "I didn't think I was going to make it." She straightened and introduced herself. "Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams of the 212. You the one in charge here, sir?" she directed at Cade.

"Are you wounded, Williams?" Cade asked, looking over Ashley critically.

"Nothing serious. The others weren't so lucky. We were patrolling the perimeter when the attack hit. We tried to get off a distress call, but they cut off our communications. I've been fighting for my life ever since."

"Where's the rest of your squad?" Allegra questioned.

"We tried to get back to the beacon, but we walked into an ambush. I think . . . I think I'm the only one left."

"This isn't your fault, Williams. You couldn't have done anything to save them," Cade consoled.

"Yes, sir. We held our position as long as possible. Then the geth overwhelmed us."

Kaidan's head snapped up. "The geth haven't been seen outside the Veil in nearly 200 years. Why are they here now?" he wondered incredulously.

"They must have come for the beacon," Ashley answered with a small shrug. "The dig site is close. Just over that rise. It might still be there."

"We can take care of this," Allegra said, beginning to turn away from Ashley.

"Let me come with you," Ashley protested. "The geth slaughtered my unit. Give me a chance to get even."

"She knows the area, Commander," Kaidan pointed out. "And we could use the extra firepower."

"Let's not forget that I'm in charge here," Cade said. He turned to Ashley. "We could use your help, Williams."

"Aye, aye, sir. It's time for payback," Ashley growled.

The team continued on. As they walked, Ashley informed them on what she knew about the beacon. It wasn't much, just that the colonists had been digging with the intent of extending the monorail when they had run into some Prothean ruins, among them the beacon. She admitted to not knowing much about the beacon itself, but she had heard one of the researchers say it could be the biggest scientific discovery of the century.

As they got closer to the dig site, they ran across more geth. Kaidan watched the two Shepards dispatch them with ease. He had never seen anyone fight like they did. They were both very well trained with their weapons, and they moved in perfect synchronization. He figured it must be some twin thing they shared. Even Ashley was an excellent fighter, well versed in each different gun she carried. Kaidan felt slightly useless as he really could only use a pistol and relied on his biotic abilities for the most part. His three teammates were much better fighters than he was.

He cleared his head of these thoughts as they finally arrived at the dig site.

"This is the dig site," Ashley confirmed. "The beacon was right here. It must have been moved."

"By who?" Kaidan wondered. "Our side? Or the geth?"

"Hard to say," Ashley responded. "Maybe we'll know more after we check out the research camp."

"You think anyone got out of here alive?" Allegra asked doubtfully.

"If they were lucky. Maybe there are some people hiding in the camp," Ashley suggested. "It's just on the top of this ridge."

Their comms beeped as Nihlus spoke, "Change of plans, Shepard. There's a small spaceport up ahead. I want to check it out. I'll wait for you there."

Cade led them up the ridge until they arrived at the camp. The place had been hit hard, many of the buildings still smoking from various fires. Kaidan noticed some curious looking stands set up in various places around the camp. As he looked closer, he noticed what looked like human-shaped robots impaled upon the spike end of each stand. Suddenly, the spikes on each stand started to retract, and the things impaled on them began twitching and moving.

"Oh god, they're still alive!" Kaidan cried in revulsion.

"What did the geth do to them?" Ashley whispered. She quickly explained how she had seen some of the geth troopers impaling a colonist onto one of the spikes.

"You mean these were the colonists?" Cade gasped.

Ashley was about to reply, but was cut off as the husks of the colonists began to attack. Luckily, they didn't move very fast, but it took a few shots to each one to put them down. Kaidan tried not to think about how they used to be innocent people.

Finally, they had dispatched all the husks in the area. They looked around at some of the buildings close by, trying to find any survivors. As they walked up to one of the buildings, they noticed that the security lock was engaged. Allegra quickly overrode the lock and the door swished open.

"Humans!" cried a woman standing inside the small building. "Thank the Maker!"

A man who was fidgeting awkwardly beside her cried, "Hurry! Close the door! Before they come back!"

"Don't worry. We'll protect you," Cade assured.

"Thank you," the woman replied. "I think we'll be okay now. It looks like everyone's gone."

"You're Dr. Warren," Ashley realized, "the one in charge of the excavation. Do you know what happened to the beacon?"

"It was moved to the spaceport this morning," Dr. Warren replied. "Manuel and I stayed behind to help pack up the camp. When the attack came, the marines held them off long enough for us to hide. They gave their lives to save us."

"No one is saved!" cried Manuel. "The age of humanity is ended. Soon, only ruins and corpses will remain."

"What's wrong with you assistant?" Allegra asked with a grimace.

"Manuel has a brilliant mind, but he's always been a bit . . . unstable. Genius and madness are two sides of the same coin."

"Is it madness to see the future? To see the destruction rushing towards us? To understand there is no escape? No hope? No, I am not mad. I'm the only sane one left!" Manuel yelled.

"I gave him an extra dose of his meds after the attack," Dr. Warren explained.

"Have you seen a turian in the area?" Cade asked.

"I saw him," Manuel muttered. "The prophet. Leader of the enemy. He was here, before the attack."

"That's impossible!" Kaidan rebuked. "Nihlus was with us on the Normandy before the attack. He couldn't have been here."

"I'm sorry," Dr. Warren interrupted. "Manuel's still a bit . . . unsettled. We haven't seen your turian. We've been hiding in here since the attack."

"Can you tell me anything about the beacon?" Cade questioned.

"It's some type of data module from a galaxy-wide communications network," Dr. Warren replied conversationally. "Remarkably well-preserved. It could be the greatest scientific discovery of our lifetime!"

"So we've heard," Allegra commented.

"We have unearthed the heart of evil. Awakened the beast. Unleashed the darkness," Manuel rambled crazily.

Kaidan could tell Allegra was growing impatient with Manuel. She was glaring at him and shifting her weight around. As he continued with his rant, Allegra shook her head and growled, "Say goodnight, Manuel." Before anyone could stop her, she punched Manuel right in the face, knocking him out cold.

"Oh my god!" Dr. Warren yelled. "What did you do?"

Cade gripped Allegra by the arm and pulled her forcibly away from Manuel's body. Kaidan stared at her in shock, while Ashley looked as though she was trying not to laugh.

"That might have been a little extreme, Commander," Kaidan gently said to Allegra.

Allegra looked up at him, a curious expression on her face.

"You can't just go around whacking people in the head!" Dr. Warren continued.

"It was only a matter of time until he did something crazy. And dangerous," Allegra replied, defending herself.

Dr. Warren sighed. "I suppose you're right. By the time he wakes up, the meds will have kicked in."

Cade was still shaking his head at Allegra in disappointment. "Perhaps we should get out of here," he said. "Williams, take us to the spaceport."

As they were running up a nearby hill to get to the spaceport, they heard what sounded like a gunshot in the distance. Kaidan glanced over at Allegra, who was standing next to him. She wore a deep frown and had swiftly brought her gun up. Kaidan followed suit with his pistol.

They finally came to the top of the hill, noticing a ramp immediately in front of them. Kaidan glanced up at the sky at a sudden strange noise and gasped in surprise. "What is that?" he called. "Off in the distance." He pointed to the strange ship flying away from the planet.

"It's a ship. Look at the size of it!" Ashley cried in astonishment.

"It's the ship from the transmission," Cade realized.

"I've never seen a geth ship that looked like _that_," Allegra commented.

"Maybe it's not the geth," Cade replied.

"Then what – Alenko! Behind you!" Allegra suddenly shouted, brining her gun up and shooting a rapid burst into something directly beside Kaidan.

Kaidan spun in terror to see a husk writhing on the ground at his feet, another one making its way up to them from the spaceport.

The group opened fire, their teamwork quickly finishing the attack. Cade led them down the slight hill toward another group of small buildings. As they approached one tucked away in the corner, a group of three people slowly exited the building.

"Everybody stay calm out there," the man in front called. "We're coming out. We're not armed."

"Is it safe? Are they gone?" one of the colonists asked anxiously.

"You're okay now," Cade replied. "Nobody's going to hurt you."

"Those things were crawling all around the shed," the first man explained. "They would have found us for sure. We owe you our lives."

"I – I still can't believe it," the second colonist stammered. "When we saw that ship I thought it was all over!"

"It showed up right before the attack. Knew it was trouble the second I saw it. So we made a break for the sheds."

"Tell me everything you remember about the attack," Cade demanded.

"The three of us were working the crops when that ship showed up," the man said slowly. "We just saw it and ran. I don't know what happened to the rest of the crew."

"They were by the garage," the third colonist muttered. "Over near the spaceport. Right where that ship came down. There's no way they survived."

"You don't know that!" the second colonist cried angrily. "We survived. If they made it to the garage, they could've had a fighting chance!"

"We should go," Allegra said to Cade.

"Hey, Cole," the third colonist directed at the first, "we're just a bunch of farmers. These guys are soldiers. Maybe we should give them the stuff."

"Geez, Blake. You gotta learn when to shut up!" Cole cried.

"Do you have something to tell me, Cole?" Cade questioned, stepping forward to tower over the farmer.

Cole sighed. "Some guys at the spaceport were running a small smuggling ring. Nothing major. In exchange for a cut of the profits, we let them store packages in our sheds."

"You greedy bastard!" Allegra shouted. "You weren't running for your life! You were running to check on your merchandise."

"No! It's not like that. I just . . . I just knew there were some packages here. Something we could use."

Kaidan agreed with Allegra, but decided to stay quiet.

"You're breaking the law, Cole," Cade said seriously.

"We're not hurting anybody!" Cole defended. "Hell, most of the time, I don't even know what's in the packages. I just thought there might be something we could use. I found a pistol. Figured it would come in handy if those things came back. But you'll probably get more use out of it than we will." He handed a pistol over to Cade.

Allegra took a quick step forward. "We're risking our lives to save this colony," she growled. "You sure there's nothing else in here that could help us out?"

"Yeah, there's one more thing. I was going to sell it after this was over. But you probably deserve it more than I do." He handed something else over to Cade.

"Who's your contact at the spaceport, Cole? What's his name?" Ashley spoke up.

"He's not a bad guy," Cole replied. "I don't want to get him in trouble. Besides, I'm not a snitch!"

"Would you rather be a snitch or a corpse?" Allegra asked evenly, aiming her pistol at Cole.

"Allegra!" Cade bellowed angrily, forcing her arm down.

Cole looked at Allegra in horror. "Powell!" he cried. "His name's Powell!"

Kaidan took a second to marvel at Allegra. He didn't exactly like they way she handled things, but he'd be damned if she didn't get the information they wanted.

"No honor among thieves," Ashley murmured.

"That's all I know. Really," Cole said, shrinking away from Allegra. "So let's try to keep things friendly from here on in, okay?"

"We have to go," Cade said, still glaring at Allegra. He pulled her away towards the spaceport, muttering, "We'll talk later." Kaidan did not envy having Cade Shepard angry at her. Ashley gave the two Shepards a curious glance, but quickly turned away.

As they walked towards the platform of the spaceport, Cade handed the pistol Cole had given him over to Kaidan. He took it with a grateful nod.

Allegra was the first to walk up onto the platform of the spaceport, stopping short at what she saw.

Kaidan came up directly behind her. "Commander," he said, "it's Nihlus."

"Something's moving!" Ashley announced. "Over behind those crates!"

All four of them quickly brought their guns up, aiming in the direction Ashley pointed. There was some rustling, then a human popped up from behind the crates, his arms raised over his head. "Wait!" he cried. "Don't – don't shoot! I'm one of you! I'm human."

"Why were you sneaking up on us? We nearly killed you!" Cade shouted in exasperation.

"I . . . I'm sorry. I was hiding from those creatures. My name's Powell."

_Uh oh_, Kaidan thought. This was the farmer's smuggling contact. He wondered how Allegra would react to him. Cade must have been wondering the same thing, because he shot Allegra a look that clearly told her to back off from her aggressive stance.

"I saw what happened to that turian. The other one shot him," Powell continued.

"Other one? There was another turian?" Cade asked.

Powell nodded.

That was enough to distract Allegra for a minute. "How did Nihlus die exactly?" she asked.

"The other one got here first," Powell stammered. "He was waiting when your friend showed up. He called him Saren. I think they knew each other. Your friend seemed to relax. He let his guard down . . . and Saren killed him. Shot him right in the back. I'm just lucky he didn't see me behind the crates."

"A Prothean beacon was brought to the spaceport earlier today," Cade began. "What happened to it?"

"It's over on the other platform. Probably where that guy Saren was headed. He hopped on the cargo train right after he killed your friend. I knew that beacon was trouble. Everything's gone to hell since we found it. First that damn mother ship showed up. Then the attack. They killed everyone. Everyone! If I hadn't been behind the crates, I'd be dead too!"

"How come you're the only one who survived?" Allegra questioned. "Why didn't anyone else try to hide behind the crates?"

"They never had a chance. I . . . I was already behind the crates when the attack started."

"Wait a minute," Kaidan spoke up. "You were hiding behind the crates before the attack?"

"I . . . sometimes I need a nap to get through my shift. I sneak off behind the crates to grab forty winks where the supervisor can't find me."

"You survived because you're lazy?" Ashley asked incredulously.

"If you hadn't snuck off for that nap you'd probably be dead just like all the others," Cade surmised.

"Yeah, I guess. I don't really want to think about it."

Allegra shook her head in disgust, then finally said it. "You're Cole's contact here on the docks. For the smuggling ring."

"What?" Powell gasped. "No! I mean . . . what does it matter now? So I'm a smuggler? Who cares? Everyone's dead."

Allegra crossed her arms over her chest and coldly asked, "Anything hidden nearby that we could use against the geth?"

Powell sighed in defeat. "A shipment of grenades come through last week. Nobody notices if a small pieces go missing from the military orders."

Ashley huffed in indignation. "You greedy son of a bitch! We're out here trying to protect your sorry ass and all you can think about is how you can rip us off?"

"I never thought you'd actually need those grenades!" Powell cried, throwing his hands up and backing slightly away from them. "Who'd want to attack Eden Prime? We're just a bunch of farmers! How was I supposed to know?"

"Hand over those grenades," Ashley snarled.

"They're yours. Take them," Powell said, handing them over. "My smuggling days are over. I swear."

"Too many people died here for you to keep lying to us!" Allegra roared. She and Ashley both brought up their guns. Kaidan and Cade looked at each other in alarm.

"Allegra!" Cade hissed.

"Okay! All right!" Powell cried. "There was something else. Experimental technology. Take it. I don't need it. I didn't want anyone to get hurt. Really. I'm sorry."

Allegra and Ashley lowered their weapons. Powell handed something over to Allegra.

"We need to find that beacon before it's too late," Cade said decisively.

"Take the cargo train," Powell spoke up. "That's where the other turian went. I . . . I can't stay here. I need to get away from all this." Powell quickly departed.

Cade turned to Allegra. "You're really starting to piss me off," he said lowly.

"I'm just trying to get the job done," Allegra replied icily.

"Uh, guys? Maybe you two could discuss this later," Kaidan interrupted. "More geth are here."

The team fought their way onto the cargo train, taking out quite a few geth. They managed to get to the other platform with little trouble. But Kaidan immediately noticed something sitting on the platform as they got off the train.

"Demolition charges!" he announced. "The geth must have planted them."

"Hurry!" Ashley cried. "We need to find them all and shut them down!"

As Kaidan had the most technical abilities of the group, he hurriedly got to work on disarming the bomb while the others covered him from surrounding geth. They moved over the platform, Kaidan successfully disarming more charges while the other three destroyed all the geth.

On the far side of the platform they saw the beacon. They approached it in awe. There was some sort of misty light surrounding the beacon, and it hummed lowly. Cade radioed in to the Normandy as Kaidan and Ashley stepped closer to the beacon.

Kaidan could hardly believe his eyes. "This is amazing," he said, wonder evident in his voice. "Actual working Prothean technology. Unbelievable!"

"It wasn't doing anything like that when they dug it up," Ashley commented. She turned and headed back to Cade and Allegra.

Kaidan, however, couldn't seem to help himself from getting closer to the beacon. It was like it was drawing him in; he didn't even notice his feet moving. All of a sudden, a brilliant light erupted from the beacon and Kaidan was lifted into the air. He heard shouts behind him, then a huge mass launched itself into his body. Kaidan realized it was Cade. He watched in horror as Cade was thrown into the beacon's grip instead. Allegra ran up to Kaidan, holding him steady on the ground as they watched Cade, unsure of what to do.

Cade was kept in the beacon's grip for a few very tense moments, his body twitching, until the beacon exploded brilliantly and flung Cade backward. With a cry of shock, Allegra ran to her brother. He was unconscious. "Radio the Normandy," she muttered, her features revealing the panic she was feeling. Kaidan's heart wrenched at the look in her eyes as she tried to rouse Cade. He quickly radioed Joker.


	3. Welcome to the Citadel

Hours later Allegra paced the medical bay by Cade's bed. Kaidan sat in a chair up against the wall, his head in his hands. Dr. Chakwas had looked Cade over when they had first brought him aboard. Physically there was nothing wrong with him, but he'd been unconscious for nearly fifteen hours now. Allegra hadn't left his side. She hadn't even removed her armor yet.

She took a quick glance at Kaidan. He had helped Allegra carry Cade to the infirmary, then stayed while Chakwas had examined him. She knew he felt responsible for what had happened to Cade, but Allegra didn't blame him. She had ordered him to get changed and get something to eat after Chakwas' examination. But he had come back to Cade's side a few hours ago, sitting in the chair silently.

Allegra jumped slightly when he finally spoke. "It's my fault," he said miserably. "I must have triggered some kind of security field when I approached the beacon."

Allegra looked him over carefully. His face looked so guilty and some emotion Allegra couldn't quite place flared through her. Tenderness? Compassion? She wanted to hug the Lieutenant and tell him it wasn't his fault. She wanted to soothe away that furrow between his eyebrows. Squeeze his hand to let him know she was glad he was here. And she had no idea why.

"You had no way to know what would happen," she slowly replied. "I don't blame you."

Some of the guilt vanished from Kaidan's face. Allegra found herself realizing how handsome he was; how broad his shoulders were, the rich color of his eyes, and the glow of his tanned skin. She swallowed thickly against a sudden lump in her throat. Why was her pulse racing? Why were her palms so clammy?

A groan from Cade made her spin to face him.

"Doctor!" Kaidan called. "Doctor Chakwas! I think he's waking up."

Dr. Chakwas quickly entered the room from her back office. Cade was slowly sitting up; Allegra rushed over to help him.

"You had us worried there, Shepard," Chakwas said. "How are you feeling?"

"A slight headache," he replied, rubbing his forehead. "Nothing serious. How long was I out?"

"About fifteen hours. Something happened down there with the beacon, I think."

"I remember pushing Kaidan out of the way," Cade replied slowly.

"It's all my fault," Kaidan said. "I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it, Alenko. It takes more than a little extraterrestrial technology to get rid of me," Cade joked. "So what happened after that?"

"The beacon exploded. A system overload, maybe," Kaidan explained. "The blast knocked you cold. Allegra and I had to carry you back here to the ship."

Allegra felt a slight thrill flow through her when she heard her name in Kaidan's raspy voice. She _definitely_ had to get him to call her Allegra more often.

"I appreciate it," Cade told both of them. He quickly squeezed Allegra's hand. Kaidan nodded.

"Physically, you're fine," Chakwas announced. "But I detected some unusual brain activity, abnormal beta waves. I also noticed an increase in your rapid eye movement, signs typically associated with intense dreaming."

"I saw . . . I'm not sure what I saw. Death. Destruction. Nothing's really clear." Cade looked down at the floor with a frown.

"Hmm," Chakwas mused. "I better add this to my report. It may – Oh, Captain Anderson!"

Everyone looked up to see the captain strolling through the door. They all straightened in his presence.

"How's our XO holding up, Doctor?" Anderson asked.

"All the readings look normal. I'd say the commander's going to be fine."

"Glad to hear it. Shepard, I need to speak with you – in private."

"Aye, aye, Captain," Allegra and Kaidan replied in unison. She gave him a wry smile. They saluted the captain, then made their way into the mess.

Allegra grabbed onto his arm and dragged him over to a quiet corner. "Kaidan," she said softly. He raised his eyebrows at her use of his first name. "Look, about Jenkins . . ."

"Losing Jenkins was hard," Kaidan replied. "But I understand what you said back on Eden Prime. About needing to finish the mission."

"I saw the look you gave me, Kaidan," Allegra said. "Jenkins was an important part of the crew, and I didn't give him the respect he deserved."

Kaidan looked slightly taken aback. "That's okay, Commander. You have a lot on your mind."

"Things were pretty rough down there," Allegra said.

"Yeah, you never get used to seeing dead civilians," Kaidan replied. "Doesn't seem right, somehow. But at least you stopped Saren from wiping out the whole colony."

"I couldn't have done it without you," Allegra replied, looking up at him.

Kaidan swallowed. "Or Ashley. Or your brother," he finished. "We're marines. We stick together." He nervously rubbed the back of his neck. "It's been a hell of a shakedown cruise," he said after a moment. "Our first mission ends with one Spectre killing another. The Citadel Council's not gonna be happy about that. Probably use it to lever more concessions out of the Alliance."

"You've got a good grasp of the situation," Allegra smiled. "You a career man?"

"Yeah. A lot of biotics are. We're not restricted, but we sure don't go undocumented. May as well get a paycheck for it. Besides, my father served. Made him proud when I enlisted. Eventually. But is that why you're here? Because of your family?"

"My whole family is in the Alliance," Allegra replied. "Cade and I grew up on various starships." She smiled at the memories. "He was always more respected than I was though. He made our parents proud on Elysium. Bought him any post in the fleet. As for me . . . well, I became _The Butcher of Torfan_," Allegra said with a grimace. "My parents refused to speak to me for weeks after the way I managed to handle things."

"But you proved yourself to be a formidable soldier. You got the job done," Kaidan said.

"And I also proved that I'll never be a hero like Cade. We're twins. Everyone expects me to be just like him. They're disappointed I'm not."

"He must respect you. He requested you for this mission," Kaidan pointed out.

"He wants to give me a chance to change my reputation. Besides, I'm a good fighter, and he knows it. He likes to have me along when he doesn't know exactly what he's getting into."

"So he suspected something was off about this mission the whole time?" Kaidan asked.

Allegra nodded.

Kaidan cleared his throat and changed the subject. "Word is we're heading for the Citadel. Any idea why?"

"I imagine the Ambassador will want to alert the Council to Saren's actions. They'd need us to be there, as we saw what happened on Eden Prime."

"Makes sense. They'd probably like to know he's not working for them anymore. Whatever happens, we'll be ready, Commander."

"Glad to hear you say that, Kaidan."

* * *

After Cade talked to Captain Anderson about what had happened on Eden Prime and what it meant now that Saren was a rogue Spectre, he headed out to the mess, running directly into Ashley.

"I'm glad you're okay, Commander," she greeted.

"Thank you," Cade replied. "I'm pleased you got reassigned to the Normandy. We can use talented soldiers such as yourself."

"Part of me feels guilty," Ashley said. "If Jenkins hadn't died, I probably wouldn't be here."

"Don't think like that," Cade interjected. "You deserve to be here."

"Thanks, Commander. I appreciate it."

"Are you okay, Chief? Things were pretty bad down there," Cade said.

"I've seen friends die before, sir. It comes with being a marine. It never gets any easier though."

"No, it sure doesn't," Cade said sadly.

"It was my whole unit," Ashley whispered. "All of them . . . gone. And all those civilians . . . But, things would have been a lot worse if you hadn't shown up."

"We couldn't have done it without your help, Williams."

"Thank you, Commander. You know, I have to admit that I was a bit nervous about being assigned to the Normandy. I didn't know if I would be welcomed since I'm, you know, kind of taking Jenkins' place. It's nice that you make me feel like I belong here."

"I think you'll fit in here just fine, Williams," Cade smiled.

Ashley smiled back, then excused herself.

Cade wandered his way upstairs to the cockpit. He found Allegra and Kaidan there, talking to Joker.

"Good timing, Commander," Joker greeted. "I was just about to bring us into the Citadel."

Cade joined Allegra and Kaidan at the window. He was amazed at the site that greeted him. He had never been to the Citadel, but had heard stories from people who had. But those stories didn't do the station any justice. As it emerged from the clouds surrounding it, Cade couldn't help but marvel at just how _big_ it was.

"Look at the size of that ship!" Allegra cried, pointing towards a very large spaceship floating around the outside of the Citadel.

"The Ascension," Kaidan answered, "flagship of the Citadel fleet."

"Size isn't everything," Joker said.

"Touchy are we, Joker?" Allegra laughed.

"You need firepower too," Joker replied.

Allegra giggled, making Kaidan smile. Cade looked between them curiously.

"Citadel control, this is SSV Normandy, requesting permission to land," Joker radioed in.

"Stand by for clearance, Normandy," Citadel control replied. After a moment they were granted clearance and Joker began taking them in to dock.

When they had docked Cade, Allegra, Ashley, and Kaidan all donned their armor and followed Captain Anderson through Citadel Security to the Presidium and up to the Ambassador's office.

Ambassador Udina greeted them tersely, announcing he had a meeting set up with the Council. The four soldiers stood to one side along with Anderson while Udina spoke to the holograms of the Council members. He told them about what had occurred on Eden Prime, but the Council didn't seem to believe anything he said, nor did they seem to want to help in any way. Cade noticed that Udina seemed convinced this was because the Council hated humans.

"This is an outrage!" Udina yelled at the Council. "If this had been a _turian_ colony-"

"The turians don't establish colonies on the edge of the terminus system, Ambassador," the asari councilor replied evenly. "Humanity was well aware of the risks."

"And Saren?" Udina demanded. "You can't just ignore a rogue Spectre. I demand action!"

"You don't get to make demands of the Council," the turian councilor yelled right back.

"Citadel Security is investigating your claims against Saren," the asari said calmly. "We will discuss their findings at the hearing."

With that, the meeting was over and the Council's holograms faded. Udina hung his head and turned angrily to the assembled group. "Captain Anderson, I see you brought half your crew with you."

"Just the ground team from Eden Prime," Anderson replied. "In case you had any questions."

"The mission reports are accurate, I assume?" Udina asked.

"Of course they are," Anderson assured. "I'm glad you were able to convince the Council to have an audience with us."

"They weren't happy about it. Saren is their top agent. They don't appreciate hearing that he's gone rogue."

"We're not going to sit on our asses while the Council refuses to do anything," Allegra spoke up. "If they won't stop Saren, we will."

"Settle down, Commander. You and your brother have done enough to damage his candidacy for the Spectres already. The mission on Eden Prime was a chance to prove you could get the job done and you failed. Nihlus is dead and the beacon is destroyed."

"That's Saren's fault, not theirs," Anderson defended.

"Then we better hope C-Sec finds evidence to his betrayal," Udina replied. "Or the Council may use this as an excuse to keep Cade out of the Spectres. Come with me, Captain, I want to go over a few things before the hearing. Shepard, you and the others can meet us at the top of the Citadel tower for the hearing. I'll make sure you have clearance to get in."

As Udina and Anderson walked away, Ashley muttered, "And that's why I hate politicians."

"You were a candidate for the Spectres?" Allegra asked Cade, wide eyed.

"Er, yeah," Cade answered, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't get a chance to. I only found out right before Eden Prime."

"So Nihlus was there to recruit you?"

"Pretty much."

Allegra frowned. "Why you? I mean, I know you're a hero and everything, but I'm just as good of a soldier as you are. I've proven myself too."

Cade shrugged. "I don't know, Allegra. Can we not discuss this now? We've got more important things to worry about."

"Fine," Allegra agreed unhappily. She walked out of the room with a glare on her face.

Cade groaned and followed her.

* * *

Allegra stormed her way down the stairs and to the main walkway of the Presidium level. She leaned against the railing and glared down into the lake.

It just wasn't fair. Why did Cade deserve to become a Spectre more than she did? They were both great soldiers, they both strived to complete the mission. And weren't Spectres supposed to achieve their goals using any means necessary? Allegra had no problem with that while there were thousands of things Cade would refuse to do if it came down to it. If the Council wanted a great Spectre, they should ask Allegra. Why couldn't they see that?

A warm presence at her elbow made her look up in annoyance. Her attitude quickly became much brighter as she came face to face with Kaidan.

"Are you okay?" he asked quietly.

"I'm just a little pissed off," Allegra explained. She looked around, noticing Cade and Ashley were at a VI Terminal about twenty feet away.

"Because of the Spectre thing?"

"Well, yeah, that and because the Council refused to do anything about Saren."

"They haven't come right out and refused anything yet," Kaidan replied.

"Are you always so optimistic?"

"Beats being a pessimist."

Allegra smiled at him. She didn't know why, but she really liked talking to Kaidan. "I know it's silly of me, but I'm jealous that Cade was a candidate for the Spectres and not me."

"It's not silly of you. A lot of people are jealous."

"I know. But he's my brother. I should be happy for him."

"I've noticed that he seems to get more attention than you. At least good attention, anyway. Everything I had heard about you before I met you were all horrible things because of Torfan." Kaidan looked away from her. "That must have been a difficult time for you."

"Very difficult," Allegra agreed quietly.

"I suppose not many people have listened to your side of the story?"

"No, they haven't." Allegra took a minute to study his profile. She had never had a man understand her like this before. She had never had _anyone_ understand her like this before. She wasn't quite sure what to think or do. "Kaidan," she said softly, making him look up at her. "I don't know how you do it, but you make me feel so relaxed."

He opened his mouth to reply, but Cade and Ashley decided to pick that moment to join them at the railing. Kaidan quickly turned away from Allegra.

"We should be getting to the Citadel Tower," Cade said, avoiding Allegra's glance. "It's down that way a bit." He pointed over his shoulder.

"Well, let's get going then," Allegra said, walking off in the direction he had pointed. He let her lead the way. Allegra had hoped Kaidan would catch up with her so they could walk together, but he hung back slightly to walk behind them. Rationally, she knew she shouldn't feel so disappointed, but she just couldn't help it.

Eventually, they made it to the Citadel Tower and piled into the elevator. It rose slowly, the music grating on Allegra's nerves. She willed it to move faster, but instead it seemed to slow down slightly about halfway up the tower. And she had thought the Normandy's elevator was slow!

Finally, _finally_, the elevator arrived at the very top of the tower. Cade led them down a short hallway that opened up to an enormous fountain where two turians were arguing with each other.

"Saren's hiding something. I need more time. You have to stall the council," the turian dressed in blue armor was saying.

"Stall the Council? That's ridiculous! Your investigation is over, Garrus," the second turian replied before walking away.

Garrus turned to see the four soldiers staring at him. "You're Commander Shepard," he said to Cade. "Garrus Vakarian," he greeted. "I _was_ the officer in charge of the C-Sec investigation into Saren."

"Sounds like you really want to bring him down," Allegra commented.

Garrus looked her over quickly. "Ah, the other Commander Shepard," he said appreciatively. "I don't trust Saren," he said in answer to her statement. "Something about him just doesn't sit right with me. Unfortunately, he's a Spectre so anything he's involved with is classified. I haven't been able to find any hard evidence to prove he's a traitor."

"We should be going," Cade said. "The Council is waiting for us."

"Good luck," Garrus said. "Maybe they'll listen to you."

They passed through the rest of the top floor of the tower. Ashley commented on how many stairs there were, but Allegra was more interested in the trees and other greenery they had growing around the tower. It was a very beautiful place; she only wished she could fully enjoy it.

Standing on the final set of stairs, Captain Anderson waited for them. "The hearing's already started," he said as they approached. Ashley and Kaidan hung back as he led Cade and Allegra up the stairs to where the Council stood, already arguing with Udina. Saren was taking part in the hearing by way of hologram.

"There is nothing to indicate Saren had any part of the geth attack on Eden Prime," the asari councilor was saying.

"The C-Sec investigation turned up no evidence to support the charge of treason," the turian councilor added.

"An eyewitness saw him kill Nihlus in cold blood!" Udina replied angrily.

"We've read the reports from Eden Prime, Ambassador. However, the testimony of a traumatized colonist cannot be considered hard evidence," the salarian councilor said.

"I resent these accusations," Saren spoke up. "Nihlus was a fellow Spectre and a friend."

"That just let you catch him off guard!" Anderson cried.

"Captain Anderson," Saren said coolly, "why is it you always seemed to be involved when humanity makes false charges against me? And these must be the two Commander Shepards. The ones who destroyed the beacon."

"You're the one who tried to destroy the beacon, then cover it up!" Cade snapped.

"Captain Anderson has taught you well, I see. Shifting the blame to cover your own failures," Saren taunted. "But what can you expect from humanity."

"Saren despises humanity!" Cade yelled. "That's why he attacked Eden Prime!"

"Your species needs to learn its place, Shepard. You're not ready to join the Council. You're not even ready to join the Spectres!" Saren replied calmly.

"That is not his decision!" Udina immediately argued. "He has no right to say that."

"The purpose of this meeting is not to discuss whether or not Shepard should be inducted into the Spectres," the asari councilor interrupted.

"This meeting has no purpose!" Saren replied. "The humans are just wasting our time."

"Saren is hiding behind his Spectre status!" Allegra butted in. "You need to open your eyes!"

"What we need is proof," the salarian councilor reprimanded.

"Our decision must be based on facts, not wild speculation," the turian councilor added.

"Do you have anything else to add, Commander Shepard?" the salarian councilor asked.

Cade looked to Allegra, who shook her head. "You've already made your decision," Cade said with a heavy sigh. "We won't waste our breath."

"The Council has found no evidence of any connection between Saren and the geth. Ambassador, your petition to have him disbanded from the Spectres is denied," the asari councilor announced.

"I'm glad to see justice was served," Saren gloated.

The councilors adjourned the meeting. Cade and Allegra followed Udina and Anderson back down the stairs to where Ashley and Kaidan waited anxiously.

"How did it go?" Kaidan asked Allegra quietly.

"Not well," she answered briefly.

"It was a mistake to bring you into the hearing, Captain," Udina spat at Anderson. "You and Saren have too much history. The Council questioned our motives."

"I know Saren," Anderson said firmly. "He's working with the geth to destroy the entire human race. I'm sure of it. Humanity is in danger. Nowhere, not even Earth, is safe."

"We'll have to deal with Saren ourselves," Cade decided.

"We need to find a way to expose him but he's untouchable as a Spectre," Udina murmured.

"What about Garrus?" Kaidan asked. "He was arguing with Executor Pallin, asking for more time. He might have been close to finding something on Saren."

"Where could we find him?" Cade asked Udina and Anderson.

"I know a man from C-Sec named Harkin. He could help us track Garrus down," Udina suggested.

"Forget it," Anderson said. "Harkin was suspended last month for drinking on the job. I wouldn't waste my time with him."

"I don't want you part of our investigating," Udina demanded. "I don't want the Council to use your past history with Saren as an excuse to ignore any evidence we find. The commanders will handle this."

"You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of the investigation!" Allegra cried irately.

"No, the ambassador's right," Anderson admitted with a sigh. "I need to step aside."

Udina announced he had some business to take care of and excused himself. After Udina had walked away, Anderson told them they could probably find Harkin down at Chora's Den in the wards.

"So you do want us to speak with him?" Allegra asked.

"He may prove useful. It's a long shot, but I don't want to turn away any help we can get," Anderson answered. "You should also talk to Barla Von in the financial district. Rumor has it he's an agent for the Shadow Broker."

"The information dealer?" Allegra questioned.

"That's the one," Anderson replied. "I've heard Barla Von is one of his top representatives. He might know something about Saren, but any information he'd have won't come cheap."

"We'll find something, Captain," Cade promised.

"Count on us, sir," Allegra added.

Anderson nodded and made his way out of the Citadel Tower. Cade turned to Allegra. "I think we should split up."

"Good idea. You take Barla Von. I've got Harkin," Allegra decided.

"I don't know about you going to Chora's Den by yourself," Cade said uneasily.

"Cade, I'm a big girl, I can handle myself. But," she added resignedly, "if it'll make you feel better, I'll take Alenko with me."

"I'll keep an eye on her, Commander," Kaidan promised.

"Good. Well, Williams, it looks like it's you and me," Cade said to Ashley, leading her towards the elevators.

Allegra turned to Kaidan. "Sorry you got stuck with me," she said, placing her hands on her hips.

"You make it sound like it's a bad thing," Kaidan replied with a small smile.

"Isn't it?"

"Not from where I'm standing."

Allegra felt a slight thrill course through her veins, but resolutely ignored it. She cleared her throat and tried to remain professional. "All right, Lieutenant, let's go look at some strippers!"


	4. Evidence

As Kaidan followed Allegra through the wards, he found it difficult to keep his gaze focused on where he was headed, rather than on his commander's rear end. How hadn't he yet noticed how perfectly her armor molded to her shapely backside? And why was he noticing _now_?

He felt disgusted with himself. He knew better than this. Not only was it highly unlikely that Allegra would ever return feelings for him, but it was impossible for them to be together even if she did, for some reason, somehow, like him. She was his commanding officer. He could be kicked out of the Alliance for fraternizing with her.

_But what a way to go_, an evil little voice inside him commented as his eyes drifted down to rest once more on her butt. He had never realized he was an ass man.

Kaidan violently shook his head to rid himself of these vile, dangerous thoughts. He better pull himself together; they were arriving at Chora's Den.

Allegra led the way in, pausing just inside the entrance and scanning the room. Kaidan glanced around as well, noticing a very scantily clad asari grinding provocatively on a table a few feet away. "This place sure has some . . . sights," he blurted.

Allegra looked over at him, catching him eyeing the asari dancer. "I didn't realize you went for this sort of thing, Lieutenant," she said nonchalantly.

Oh, great, she was back to referring to him by his rank. He had much preferred her calling him Kaidan, even though it was highly inappropriate. And now she thought he liked women who weren't afraid to bare all, women who left little to the imagination with the clothes they wore. Or didn't wear, as the case may be.

Kaidan wished he could tell Allegra that he liked having to use his imagination. That the sight of her in that armor turned him on way more than any asari stripper ever could.

But _that_ would definitely result in him being jobless and stranded on the Citadel, probably with some nice scars courtesy of Allegra.

Kaidan realized he was still staring at Allegra, his mouth open in silent shock at her comment. He snapped his mouth closed and focused his mind on the mission at hand. "You think that's Harkin over there?" he asked, pointing across the room at a man dressed in a military style casual uniform with a row of empty glasses on the table before him.

"Good eye, Lieutenant. At least you can focus on something other than all the bare skin around here."

Ouch.

Allegra moved quickly towards Harkin and planted herself in front of him, her arms crossed over her chest. She glared down at him menacingly and Kaidan moved to stand next to her.

Harkin looked up at Allegra, first in annoyance, and then after getting a good look at her, he smiled in a sickeningly perverted way. "Hey there, sweetheart," he greeted. "You looking for some fun? 'Cause I gotta say that soldier getup looks real good on that bod of yours."

Kaidan immediately bristled in anger. He could feel his biotic energy amping up.

"Why don't you sit that sweet little ass down beside old Harkin," he continued. "I'll buy you a drink and we'll see where this goes."

Luckily, Allegra wasn't buying his act. "I'd rather drink a cup of acid after chewing on a razor blade," she said calmly.

Kaidan had to turn his bark of laughter into a cough.

Harkin's gaze narrowed. "You'll have to do better than that to hurt my feelings. I worked for C-Sec for twenty years; I've been called every name in the book, princess."

"Call me princess one more time and you'll be picking your teeth up off the floor," Allegra replied sweetly, a dangerous glint in her eyes. "Now, tell me where I can find Garrus Vakarian."

"Okay, okay," Harkin finally relented. "You must be one of Anderson's crew if you're looking for Garrus. That poor bastard's still trying to bring Saren down, eh? I know where Garrus is, but tell me . . . did the captain tell you his big secret?"

Allegra rolled her eyes. "Why don't you just tell me where Garrus is before I have to get violently persuasive."

Harkin chuckled. "The captain used to be a Spectre. Didn't know that, did you? He was the first human ever to be a Spectre and they kept it all very quiet. Good thing too, because he blew it. He screwed up his mission so bad they had no choice but to kick him out. Of course, he blames everything on Saren. He's convinced the turian set him up."

"And you think I'm just going to believe anything you tell me?" Allegra asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Go ask Anderson. I bet he tells you everything. He's too stupid and proud to lie to your face."

"So if they covered everything up, how did you hear about it?" Allegra continued.

"People on this station love to talk. Secrets are like herpes. If you got 'em you might as well spread 'em around," Harkin laughed.

Kaidan and Allegra both groaned in revulsion. "You're a pig," Allegra commented.

"Just noticed that now, did you?"

Allegra breathed out heavily, then drew her weapon on Harkin. "Tell me where Garrus is. Now."

Harkin immediately put his hands in the air. "Okay!" he cried. "Calm down. He went to talk to Dr. Michel over in the med clinic across the wards."

"There, now, that wasn't so hard," Allegra replied, lowering her gun. "Let's get out of here," she said to Kaidan.

"Good, let me drink in peace," Harkin muttered, raising a glass to his lips with shaky hands.

Kaidan followed Allegra out of Chora's Den, glad to be rid of the noise and the lights. They were starting to set off his migraines. "Can I ask you something, Commander?" Kaidan questioned, placing a hand on Allegra's arm to stop her.

She froze and spun to face him. "Anything," she whispered throatily.

Kaidan forced the sudden lump in his throat down. Wow, when her voice got all husky like that . . . _Focus, Kaidan! _he berated himself. "Uh, why did you want to go talk to Harkin?" he stammered. "Instead of Barla Von."

Allegra stared at him for a second, then chuckled. "Kaidan, can you imagine me trying to ask an information broker for a favor?"

There she was using his first name again. Threatening Harkin must have put her in a better mood.

"I do well with threats and intimidation," Allegra continued. "Information brokers work strictly with money. Threats don't work on them. We wouldn't have gotten anywhere. Harkin, on the other hand, cracked like an egg under a hammer."

Kaidan grinned at her simile. "I see your point," he laughed.

"Come on, let's go get Garrus."

* * *

While Allegra and Kaidan were having fun tormenting Harkin, Cade and Ashley had arrived at Barla Von's office in the financial district.

"What's this? One of the Earth-clan?" Barla Von greeted Cade. "A famous one too. You're the one they call Shepard. It's a great honor to welcome the Hero of the Blitz. My name is Barla Von. I am a financial advisor to many important clients here on the Citadel."

"I heard that you work for the Shadow Broker," Cade said, deciding to get right to the point. "Do you have any information on Saren?"

"You're very blunt, Shepard," Barla Von replied. "However, you are correct. I am indeed an agent for the Shadow Broker. And I do know something about Saren."

Cade straightened up in surprise. Could luck finally be on their side? As soon as his hopes were lifted, however, they were quickly dashed back down. "I hear your information can be expensive," he replied warily. He didn't have a lot of money . . .

"Normally, yes," Barla Von agreed. "But I am willing to give you this information free of charge. These are exceptional circumstances after all."

"What's the catch?" Ashley asked from behind Cade. He had been wondering the same thing.

"No catch," the volus assured. "The Shadow Broker is quite displeased with Saren at the moment. They used to do a lot of business, until Saren turned on him."

"Saren has turned on a lot of people lately," Cade commented dryly.

"Saren is not stupid," Barla Von continued. "The Shadow Broker is a very powerful ally. It doesn't make sense for Saren to turn on him. Not unless something huge was at stake. I don't know the details, but the Shadow Broker hired a freelance krogan mercenary to deal with the situation."

"How do I find this krogan?" Cade questioned.

"I heard he was paying a visit to Citadel Security. If you hurry, you can probably catch him at the Academy."

"Thanks for the info," Cade said gratefully.

"My pleasure, Commander," Barla Von replied.

"That was easy," Ashley commented as they walked back out onto the Presidium floor.

"I know, it makes me a little wary," Cade said. "I suppose we should head to C-Sec Academy and see if we can't find this krogan."

"Right behind you, Commander."

Cade and Ashley walked to the other side of the Presidium and grabbed the elevator down to the wards. As they stepped off the elevator, they ran straight into Allegra and Kaidan.

"We were just coming to find you," Allegra greeted.

"How did talking to Harkin go?" Cade asked, surreptitiously checking her over for any evidence of fighting.

"It took a little _friendly persuasion_ but he told me where to look for Garrus," Allegra replied, smiling widely. "And stop fussing, I didn't have to fight anybody."

"Friendly persuasion?" Cade echoed. "You threatened him, didn't you?"

"It's what I do best. Besides, he was a creepy pervert. He deserved it."

"I'm siding with her on this one, Commander," Kaidan announced when Cade glanced over to him.

Cade sighed. "And where is Garrus?" he asked.

"Supposedly talking to the doctor in the med clinic," Allegra replied. "How was your meeting with Barla Von?"

"Good. He told me that Saren turned his back on the Shadow Broker and now the Shadow Broker has sent a krogan mercenary to deal with it."

"And how much money did this information cost us?" Allegra asked suspiciously.

"Nothing. He gave it freely."

"Really?" Kaidan asked in astonishment. "That's surprising."

"I know, right?" Ashley agreed.

"So what now?" Allegra asked. "Do we find this krogan? Do we have any idea where he even is?"

"Barla Von said he should be at C-Sec Academy," Ashley announced.

"We should go get him," Allegra said. "Maybe he'll join our side."

"We need to get Garrus first," Cade replied. "He might have information that could help us show the Council the truth about Saren."

"Well, why don't you go get Garrus and I'll go find this krogan?" Allegra suggested.

"No," Cade replied forcefully. "I don't want you going to meet a krogan mercenary by yourself."

"I won't go by myself," Allegra said with an eye roll. "Alenko will be there."

"A krogan is much different than a drunk ex-C-Sec agent," Cade argued. "I want to be there with you in case anything happens."

"You mean, in case I piss the krogan off and he tries to kill me?"

"I worry about you, Allegra," Cade said with sincerity. "You're my sister. I know you can get yourself out of trouble, but it's the fact that you get yourself into those situations that has me worried. Just stay here. I'll go get Garrus and be right back."

"Seriously?" Allegra said, anger flaring in her eyes. "You're leaving me here because you don't trust me?"

_Pretty much_, Cade thought. He didn't like making Allegra mad at him, but what choice did he have? He didn't want her to start an incident with a krogan. She might not be able to get herself out of a jam like that.

It was times like these that Cade wondered if Allegra had been born first if she would be as protective of him as he was of her. Sure, he was only ten minutes older than her, but that still made her his younger sister. He was the big brother; he had a duty to look out for her. Besides, their parents would murder him if he let anything happen to her.

"Please, Allegra, just stay here," Cade pleaded.

"Fine," Allegra relented unhappily. She stalked off to a balcony that overlooked a view of the ward arms.

Cade turned to Ashley and Kaidan. "Will you two keep an eye on her for me?"

"Sure thing, Commander," Ashley said, saluting. Kaidan also saluted, then they joined Allegra at the railing.

Cade hurried off down the hallway towards the med clinic. The sooner he got there, the sooner he could get back and stop worrying that Allegra would take off to hunt down the krogan by herself.

As Cade approached the door to the med clinic, he heard raised voices arguing inside. He cautiously opened the door and peered inside. The first thing he noticed was Garrus bent down on Cade's side of a low wall, sneaking around the corner. The second thing Cade noticed were a few thugs yelling at the doctor, who had her back to Cade.

"I didn't tell anyone, I swear!" the doctor cried in panic.

"That was smart, doc," the apparent leader of the group of thugs said. "Now if Garrus comes around, you stay smart. Keep your mouth shut or we'll-" He cut himself off as he noticed Cade standing in the doorway. The thug quickly pulled his gun and grabbed the doctor, hauling her to him as a hostage.

Cade swiftly grabbed his assault rifle, aiming it at the thug.

"Who are you?" the thug bellowed.

"Let her go," Cade demanded.

Garrus took the opportunity to jump out from behind the wall and take a shot at the thug's head, hitting his mark. The doctor quickly plastered herself to the floor as the other thugs began shooting at Garrus and Cade. After a relatively quick fight, Cade and Garrus, victorious, helped Dr. Michel up.

"Perfect timing, Shepard," Garrus told Cade. "Gave me a clear shot at that bastard."

"What were you thinking?" Cade cried. "You could have hit the doctor!"

"I – I didn't mean to . . . there wasn't any time, I just reacted!" Garrus stammered in reply. "Dr. Michel, are you hurt?"

"No, I'm okay," Dr. Michel assured. "Thanks to you. Both of you."

"Why were those men threatening you?" Cade asked.

"They are Fist's men. They wanted to shut me up, to keep me from telling Garrus about the quarian."

"The quarian?" Cade asked in confusion.

"A few days ago, a quarian came by the clinic," Dr. Michel explained. "She'd been shot, but I don't know by whom. She was scared, on the run. She asked about the Shadow Broker. She told me she wanted to trade information for a safe place to stay. I put her in contact with Fist, the owner of Chora's Den. He's an agent for the Shadow Broker."

"Not anymore," Garrus interrupted. "He's working for Saren now and the Shadow Broker is not very happy about it."

"Fist betrayed the Shadow Broker?" Dr. Michel asked in astonishment. "That's a stupid move. Saren must have offered him something huge."

"The quarian must have something Saren wants. Something worth crossing the Shadow Broker to get," Garrus pondered aloud.

"It must be something that proves Saren is a traitor," Cade realized. He turned to Dr. Michel. "Did this quarian say anything about Saren or the geth?"

"Yes!" Dr. Michel replied. "The information she had had something to do with the geth."

"She must be able to link Saren to the geth. The Council couldn't ignore this!" Garrus said excitedly.

"We need to find her," Cade agreed. He quickly radioed Allegra.

* * *

Allegra still couldn't believe Cade had banished her to the corner like a child in time-out. Why couldn't she go find the krogan? She could take care of herself, but Cade seemed to like to pretend that she couldn't.

Ashley and Kaidan approached Allegra, standing next to her at the railing. The three of them looked out at the view.

"Big place," Kaidan commented in awe.

"That your professional opinion, sir?" Ashley joked.

"This isn't a station, it's a city," Allegra said, realizing just how big the Citadel was.

"There must be millions here. It can't be possible to track everyone coming and going," Kaidan mused.

"This makes Jump Zero look like a porta john. And it's the largest deep space station the Alliance has," Ashley added.

"Jump Zero was big," Kaidan agreed. "But this is a whole 'nother scale. Look at the ward arms. How do they keep all that mass from flying apart?"

"The Council represents more species than I thought. No wonder they're careful with newcomers," Allegra said slowly.

"They probably just want to keep everything running," Kaidan replied. "It has to be hard keeping all these cultures working together."

"Or maybe they just don't like humans," Ashley added wryly.

"Why not?" Allegra asked. "We've got oceans, beautiful women, this emotion called love. According to the old vids, we have everything they want."

"When you put it that way, there's no reason they wouldn't like you," Kaidan blurted.

Ashley and Allegra stared at him. Ashley in amusement and Allegra in flattered surprise.

"I mean, us. Humans. Ma'am," Kaidan hurried to add, flushing with embarrassment.

"You don't take much shore leave, do you, LT?" Ashley laughed.

"All right, laugh it up, Chief," Allegra smiled, feeling her mood lighten, thanks, once again, to Kaidan. "I appreciate the thought, Alenko, but we're on duty here."

"Uh, aye, aye, ma'am."

Allegra slapped her hands against the railing in determination. "All right, let's go."

"Go where?" Ashley asked.

"To find this krogan," Allegra replied, already starting to walk towards C-Sec Academy.

"But the Commander said to stay right here," Kaidan protested.

"Cade isn't your only commanding officer," Allegra pointed out. "And he would be so pissed if you let me go find this krogan by my lonesome. He'd want you to come with me. To protect me."

Kaidan and Ashley looked at each other doubtfully.

"You're not stopping me," Allegra pointed out. "You might as well join." She continued walking away, pleased to note that Kaidan and Ashley decided to follow her.

It didn't take them long to get to the Academy, and once there, it was easy to find the krogan. He was the only krogan in the area. He was standing in a corner talking to a few C-Sec officers. Allegra approached slowly, stopping a few feet away from them.

"Witnesses saw you making threats in Fist's bar," one of the officers was telling the krogan. "Stay away from him."

"I don't take orders from you," the krogan replied threateningly.

"This is your only warning, Wrex."

"You should be warning Fist. Warning him that I'll kill him."

"Do you want me to arrest you?" the officer asked.

"I want you to try," Wrex said lowly. He spotted Allegra watching him from over the officer's shoulder. He pushed past the officers and approached Allegra, Kaidan, and Ashley. The C-Sec officers shrugged their shoulders and dispersed. "Do I know you, human?" Wrex asked Allegra.

"I heard you were hired by the Shadow Broker to deal with a certain situation," Allegra replied.

"You heard right," Wrex said. "I was hired to take out a guy named Fist. He owns Chora's Den."

"Why Fist?"

"He betrayed the Shadow Broker. I don't know the details. I just know I was paid to kill him."

Allegra's comm crackled with Cade's voice. "Allegra, I found Garrus. We need to go to Chora's Den and have a little chat with the owner, a guy named Fist. Apparently, he is trying to hand over a quarian to Saren. She has information we need."

"What sort of information?" Allegra asked.

"The kind that links Saren to the geth."

Allegra looked up sharply at Wrex.

"Garrus and I will meet you where I left you soon," Cade signed off.

"Well, it looks like I need to find Fist myself," Allegra told Wrex. "He has something I need."

Wrex looked her over. "My people have a saying," he finally said. "Seek the enemy of your enemy, and you'll find a friend."

Allegra smiled. "I think we're going to get along just fine, Wrex."

"Uh, Commander," Ashley started, "shouldn't we be meeting your brother back where he left us?"

"Williams, this quarian could be in trouble. We need to find her. We need that evidence. We don't have any time to waste," Allegra replied.

"I guess you're right," Ashley relented.

The four of them hightailed it over to Chora's Den. The first thing Allegra noticed was how quiet the place suddenly was.

"He closed it," Wrex said. "He was expecting me."

With an uneasy feeling, Allegra pulled out her assault rifle, the other three following her lead. She slowly walked up to the entrance and was immediately greeted by Fist's thugs spread out around the bar. Allegra, Kaidan, Wrex, and Ashley all ducked for cover. Allegra quickly took out the guy perched on the raised stage, while Wrex took out a couple of guys by the bar. Kaidan released a biotic lift at a nearby target and Ashley pummeled the thug with her shotgun. They soon had taken out all the thugs in the area, and Wrex quickly led them towards the back rooms.

The door opened to reveal two men pointing guns right the four of them. "Stay back or we'll shoot!" one of them cried.

"Warehouse workers," Kaidan noticed. "All the real guards must be dead."

"I just killed fifty bodyguards to get in here," Allegra replied casually. "What do you think I'll do to you?" she added, narrowing her eyes at the two men.

"Uh . . ." one of the men stammered.

"Ah, screw Fist," the other said. "He doesn't pay us enough for _this_."

The two men lowered their weapons and hurried towards the entrance of the bar. Allegra led her group further into the back rooms, at last arriving at Fist's office.

Fist dove behind cover as he saw them approach and activated the two turrets placed on either side of the room. Allegra quickly retreated back behind the wall, pulling Kaidan with her. Ashley and Wrex managed to duck behind the wall on the opposite side of the door from Allegra and Kaidan. They took turns shooting into the room, concentrating on the two turrets first. Allegra was pleased to note that Wrex had amazing aim, and didn't even flinch if he got hit by stray bullets.

Fist's defenses were no match for the three soldiers and Wrex and they soon had him cowering on his office floor in fear. "Don't kill me!" Fist pleaded weakly. "I surrender!"

"Tell me where the quarian is and I won't have to shoot you in the kneecaps," Allegra threatened.

"She's not here!" Fist hurried to say.

"He's lying," Ashley said.

"Put a round in his leg, see if that'll make him talk," Allegra ordered to no one in particular.

Kaidan, Ashley, and Wrex all raised their guns.

"Wait!" Fist blubbered. "I don't know where she is, but I know where you can find her!"

"Start talking," Allegra demanded.

"The quarian said she'd only deal with the Shadow Broker himself," Fist began. "Nobody meets the Shadow Broker. Ever. He only works through agents. Even I don't know who he really is. But the quarian didn't know that so I told her I'd set a meeting up for her. But when she shows up, it'll be Saren's men waiting for her."

Allegra stepped closer to Fist, bringing her gun up to his temple. "Tell me where that meeting is before I blow your lying head off!" she growled.

"Here on the wards!" Fist cried, trembling. "The back alley by the markets. She's supposed to meet them now!"

Allegra stepped away from him, looking him over quickly. "Wrex," she said softly in invitation.

Wrex happily raised his pistol and shot Fist in the head. "Thank you, Shepard," he replied.

"That quarian's dead if we don't go now!" Kaidan reminded them.

The four of them quickly made their way out of Chora's Den, fighting off more of Fist's men as they went. Allegra jumped as Cade radioed her through their comms.

"Where the _fuck _are you, Allegra?" he bellowed, thoroughly pissed off. "I told you to wait right here!"

"Uh, I'm kind of in the middle of something here!" Allegra called back. "I'll call you back when I'm done!"

"Allegra!" Cade swore, but Allegra quickly shut off her comm.

She ignored the looks from her teammates as they hurried to the back alley behind the markets, arriving just in time to see a quarian being surrounded by a turian and a few salarians.

"Did you bring it?" the turian asked the quarian.

"Where's the Shadow Broker? Where's Fist?" the quarian asked suspiciously.

"They'll be here. Where's the evidence?" the turian continued to ask, reaching up to stroke his hand along the side of the quarian's helmet.

The quarian slapped his hand away. "The deal's off," she said.

The turian backed away from her as the salarians drew their guns. The quarian quickly dived out of the way, pulling out her own weapon. Allegra, Wrex, Kaidan, and Ashley jumped in to help her, dispatching Saren's men easily.

The quarian approached them, trembling with anger. "Fist set me up!" she yelled. "I knew I couldn't trust him!"

"Are you okay?" Allegra asked her.

"I know how to look after myself," the quarian replied. "Not that I don't appreciate the help," she added quickly.

"What's your name?" Allegra asked.

"Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. Who are you?"

"My name is Allegra Shepard. I'm looking for evidence to prove Saren is a traitor."

"Then I have a chance to repay you for saving my life. But we need to go somewhere safe."

"We could take her to the ambassador's office," Kaidan suggested.

Allegra nodded, then, grimacing, switched on her comm and radioed Cade.

"Are you going to tell me what is going on?" Cade immediately yelled.

"I got Wrex, that krogan the Shadow Broker hired. He helped me save the quarian. We're bringing her to the ambassador right now," Allegra explained.

"Why didn't you wait for me?" Cade demanded.

"There wasn't any time!" Allegra replied angrily. "If we had waited for you to show up, Tali might not be alive to share her evidence with us! I did what I had to do!"

"Dammit, Allegra! I wanted you with me because I thought you could follow orders!"

"I can follow orders! But I know when something requires me to change plans. I'm sorry, Cade, but the important thing is that Tali is safe and she's willing to help us."

"I'll meet you in the ambassador's office," Cade said before cutting the connection.

"He sounds happy," Ashley said sarcastically.

"He'll be fine," Allegra replied. "Let's go."


	5. Spectre

Tali'Zorah nar Rayya followed Allegra, Kaidan, Ashley, and Wrex up to the Presidium. She hadn't been on the Citadel for very long, but she had received so many curious stares from passersby that she barely noticed anymore. Not many quarians visited the Citadel, and Tali would have stayed away, but this was the only place she had been able to think of to go to ask for the Shadow Broker's help. And that hadn't even turned out.

She really was glad that Allegra had been there to help her fight off Saren's men. Tali had never thought she would give her information to anyone other than the Shadow Broker, but she could tell that Allegra would use this for the right reason.

As they approached the human ambassador's office, Tali could feel a rising wave of agitation coming from Allegra. Tali figured it had something to do with the man Allegra had been arguing with over her comm.

"Are you okay?" Tali asked her.

"What?" Allegra asked, startled. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"You seem a little anxious."

"It's nothing."

Tali decided to let it go. They had arrived at the ambassador's office anyway. She followed the humans and Wrex into the huge office.

A younger man immediately approached Allegra, a deep frown on his face. Tali watched him hiss something to her, then Allegra replied, "Not now, Cade."

"Shepard, you're not making my life any easier," the man who must be Ambassador Udina complained to Allegra. "Firefights in the wards? An all-out assault on Chora's Den? Do you know how many-" He stopped as his gaze shifted to Tali. "What's this? A quarian? What are you up to, Shepard?"

"This quarian can help us bring down Saren," Allegra replied testily. "If you hadn't jumped down my throat I would have told you that!"

"I apologize, Commander," Udina said awkwardly. "This whole thing with Saren has me on edge. Maybe we should start at the beginning, Miss . . .?" Udina said glancing at Tali.

"My name is Tali'Zorah nar Rayya," Tali replied politely. "You may call me Tali."

She, along with Wrex, was briefly introduced to Captain Anderson and Cade Shepard. Tali idly wondered if Cade was related to Allegra.

"We don't see many quarians here," Udina commented.

"I'm on my Pilgrimage. My rite of passage into adulthood," Tali added at the curious looks on some of the human's faces. "During my travels, I heard reports of geth. The geth have never ventured beyond the Veil since they drove my people from our home world. I was curious. I tracked a geth patrol to an uncharted world and waited for one to become separated from the group. I disable it and removed its memory core."

"I thought the geth destroyed their memory core when they were disabled. Some sort of defense mechanism," Captain Anderson asked.

"How were you able to preserve the memory core?" Cade asked interestedly.

"My people created the geth, we know how they operate," Tali replied. "If you're quick and careful small caches of data can be saved. Most of the core of this particular geth was wiped clean, but I was able to salvage something from its audio banks." Tali accessed her omni tool and pulled up the file she was looking for.

Saren's voice rang out into the room. "Eden Prime was a major victory. The beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit."

"That's definitely Saren's voice," Anderson declared. "This proves he was involved in the Eden Prime attack!"

"Any idea what the Conduit is?" Cade asked.

"It must have something to do with the beacon," Anderson replied. "Maybe it's some kind of Prothean technology, like a weapon."

"There's more," Tali interrupted. "Saren wasn't working alone." She continued the audio file.

"And one step closer to the return of the Reapers."

"I don't recognize the other voice," Udina said.

"What are the Reapers?" Allegra questioned.

"According to the geth's memory core, the Reapers were a hyper-advanced machine race that existed 50,000 years ago," Tali explained. "The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction and then they vanished."

"Sounds a little far-fetched," Udina said skeptically.

"The vision on Eden Prime," Cade said suddenly. "I think I understand it now. I saw the Protheans being wiped out by the Reapers."

"The geth revere the Reapers as gods," Tali said. "They believe Saren knows how to bring them back."

"The Council is going to love this," Udina said sarcastically.

"They need to hear Tali's evidence," Cade decided. "It proves Saren is a traitor."

"You're right," Udina agreed. "We need to present this to the Council right away."

"What about the quarian?" Wrex asked.

"My name is Tali!" Tali replied hotly. She didn't like being referred to as 'the quarian' constantly. She turned to Allegra and pleaded, "Please, let me come with you. You saw me in the alley, you know what I can do."

"It's not just my decision," Allegra said, glancing over at Cade.

"Oh, you actually want to listen to me for once?" Cade replied.

"Cade, we could use her help," Allegra said.

He sighed. "I wasn't going to say no to her help."

"Oh, thank you!" Tali cried gratefully.

"I'll go ahead and get things prepared for the Council. Meet me there when you are ready," Udina said, quickly leaving his office.

The others all began to talk to each other, discussing what might happen next. Tali walked over to the railing to look out over the Presidium. When she had started her pilgrimage, she had never imagined she'd end up as part of a team to stop a rogue Spectre from taking over the galaxy. Her father would be so proud of her.

"Tali?"

Tali turned to see Cade standing behind her. He smiled at her and Tali found herself smiling back, even though he wouldn't be able to see because of her helmet.

"I just wanted to introduce myself to you more thoroughly," he continued, stepping closer to her.

"Are you related to Allegra?" Tali asked curiously.

"She's my twin sister," he answered.

"And you are angry at her," Tali supplied.

Cade sighed. "She went off on her own to get you and I was very worried about her. I was afraid she was going to get herself killed."

"That's sweet that you worry," Tali said awkwardly. "I mean, because you want to keep her safe from harm."

"I wish she would see it that way. She thinks I baby her."

"There might be more to it than that," Tali replied. "But it wouldn't be my place to say. I feel I should tell you that she did an excellent job in coming to my aid. And she arrived just in time. If she had been any later, I would have had to fight Saren's men by myself and I doubt I would have gotten out of there completely unharmed. She is good at her job, Cade."

"She is an excellent soldier," Cade agreed. "She just needs to learn some boundaries."

Tali noticed Captain Anderson looking in their direction. "I think your captain would like to speak with you," she told Cade.

He looked back at Anderson and nodded. "I'm glad you're on our team, Tali," he said. "I look forward to getting to know you."

* * *

Cade had a brief talk with Anderson about the possibility of what might happen now that the Council would hear the evidence against Saren. They discussed Cade's chances for becoming a Spectre, something that seemed more and more likely. Finally, Anderson decided he would go ahead to the meeting and see if Udina needed any help.

When he left, Cade gathered everyone together. He introduced himself to Wrex, who seemed grouchy to him but quite taken with Allegra. Then Cade announced that only he and Allegra had been invited into the meeting with the Council and he wanted everyone else to wait in the Presidium outside of the tower. Nobody was much surprised by this, so they all headed out of the ambassador's office.

When they got to the main level of the Presidium, Cade slowed down so that Allegra caught up with him.

"I need to talk to you, Allegra," Cade said, dragging her away from the others.

"I was wondering when you were going to give me the full lecture about obeying your orders," Allegra replied, rolling her eyes.

"This is serious," Cade growled angrily. "When I couldn't find you, I was really worried. All the possible situations that you could have gotten yourself into flashed into my mind. And we were only on the Citadel! What if we had been somewhere much more dangerous?"

"If you were too afraid to let me do anything, then why did you bring me along?" Allegra demanded.

"You're a great soldier. When you listen to orders," he added. "And we hadn't seen each other in so long. I thought testing out the Normandy would be a great way for us to catch up. A safe way."

"But then all this shit happened," Allegra supplied.

"Exactly. But I don't want to insult you by transferring you back to your previous posting. And I might need you for these coming missions. But, Allegra, you have to listen to me. I know you and I are the same rank, but the Alliance posted me as the commanding officer. You only came aboard because I insisted they let you. You have to listen to orders I give you. If you don't, what's to stop everyone else from disobeying me?"

"I'll gladly listen to orders, if you give me something to do," Allegra replied hotly. "I'm not going to put up with you leaving me behind while you go have all the fun."

"I just want you safe!" Cade cried.

"Or is it that you want me out of the way so _you _can get all the glory?"

Cade's reply froze in his throat. "Is that what you think?" he asked.

"Come on, Cade. You're used to all the glory. You've always been better than me. It's a fact that you've greatly enjoyed. And now you're afraid to let me do anything because I might become the hero. I might outshine you and you wouldn't be the golden child anymore."

Cade was reeling. He had never thought about it like that before, but as much as he hated to admit it . . . Allegra might have a point. He had always enjoyed being the one people were proud of. When they were kids, hadn't Cade always snitched on Allegra whenever she did something wrong? Hadn't he always liked the satisfaction of their parents praising him and scolding her? He was the good twin, and she was the bad twin. That's how it always was.

But that wasn't how it always would be.

Maybe Cade _was_ afraid of Allegra stealing some of his glory.

"Allegra," he said weakly. "I didn't realize . . ."

"I know you didn't," she sighed. "I'm just tired of always being second to you. Of always being compared to you and never measuring up."

"I'm sorry," he murmured. "I was jealous that you found the evidence against Saren. You did a good job, Allegra."

"Thanks, Cade." Allegra smiled tentatively at him.

Cade let loose a huge grin and slung an arm around her shoulders. "Let's go hear the Council apologize to us!"

They quickly caught up with the others outside of the council tower. After some good luck wishes, Cade and Allegra hopped into the elevator and ascended to the top of the tower. Just like their last meeting with the Council, they met Captain Anderson by the last set of stairs, and they immediately went into the meeting.

The Council listened to Tali's evidence silently. Their expressions remained blank; Cade held his breath tensely.

"You wanted proof, there it is," Udina said after the audio file had finished.

"This evidence is irrefutable, Ambassador," the turian councilor replied. "Saren will be stripped of his Spectre status and efforts will be made to bring him in to answer for his crimes."

Cade let out a huge breath of air. He felt Allegra relax slightly beside him.

"I know the other voice speaking with Saren," the asari councilor said. Everyone looked at her in surprise. "Matriarch Benezia," she announced.

"She must be working with Saren and the geth too," Allegra said.

"Matriarch Benezia is a powerful biotic," the asari councilor explained. "She will make a formidable ally for Saren."

"I'm interested in the Reapers," the salarian councilor spoke up. "What do you know about them?

"The Reapers were an ancient race of machines that wiped out the Protheans," Anderson said. "Then they vanished. According to the geth's memory core at least."

"The geth consider the Reapers gods," Cade added. "They think Saren is a prophet for their return."

"Saren's searching for this conduit, which we believe must be a key to bringing the Reapers back. That's why he attacked Eden Prime," Anderson continued.

"Do we know exactly what this conduit is?" the salarian councilor asked.

"If Saren thinks it can bring back the Reapers, that's bad enough," Cade replied.

"Why would Saren want to bring back machines that wiped out all life?" the turian councilor asked doubtfully. "Where did the Reapers go? How come we have no trace of their existence? We would have found something if they were real."

"I warned you about Saren and you refused to face the truth," Cade said, trying to keep his anger in check. "Don't make the same mistake about the Reapers."

"This is different," the asari councilor argued. "You have proved that Saren betrayed the Council. We agree that he is using the geth to search for the Conduit, but we don't know why."

"The Reapers are obviously just a myth," the salarian councilor added. "A convenient lie to cover Saren's true purpose. A legend he is using to bend the geth to his will."

"50,000 years ago, the Reapers wiped out all life!" Allegra cried. "If Saren finds the Conduit, it will happen again!"

"Saren is now a rogue agent on the run. He no longer has the resources of a Spectre," the turian councilor pointed out.

"That is not good enough!" Udina bellowed. "He's hiding somewhere in the Traverse. Send your fleet in!"

"A fleet cannot track down one man," the salarian councilor disagreed.

"A Citadel fleet could secure the region and keep the geth from attacking any more of our colonies," Udina cried.

"Or it could trigger a war with the Terminus Systems," the turian councilor said.

"Every time humanity asks for help you refuse!" Allegra cried angrily.

"Shepard's right," Udina replied. "I'm sick of this Council and its anti-human bull-"

"Ambassador!" the asari councilor interrupted. "There is another way to stop Saren that does not require fleets or armies." She gave a significant look to the turian councilor.

"No!" he yelled. "It's too soon! Humanity isn't ready for the responsibilities that come with joining the Spectres!"

Cade's heart leapt into this throat. This might be it! He might be about to become a Spectre!

"You don't have to send a fleet into the Traverse and the ambassador gets his human Spectre," Allegra reasoned. "Everyone's happy."

She was on Cade's side! He had never been so happy or so nervous!

The councilors all looked at each other, coming to a silent decision.

"Commander Cade Shepard, please step forward," the asari councilor called.

Allegra froze, but Cade hardly noticed in his excitement. He stepped to the edge of the platform, looking up at the Council.

"It is the decision of the Council that you be granted all the powers and privileges of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch of the Citadel," the asari councilor began.

"Spectres are not trained, but chosen," the salarian councilor continued. "Individuals forged in the fire of service and battle."

"Spectres are an ideal, a symbol. The embodiment of courage, determination, and self reliance. They are the right hand of the Council, instruments of our will," the asari councilor added.

"Spectres bear a great burden. They are protectors of galactic peace, both our first and last line of defense. The safety of the galaxy is theirs to uphold," the turian councilor finished.

"You are the first human Spectre, Commander," the asari councilor said. "This is a great accomplishment for you and your entire species."

"I'm honored, Councilor," Cade replied with a slight bow.

"You'll be going into the Traverse to find Saren," the salarian councilor ordered. "He's a fugitive from justice, so you are authorized to use any means necessary to apprehend or eliminate him."

"I'll find him," Cade promised.

"This meeting is adjourned."

Cade turned back to Allegra, Udina, and Anderson. Udina and Anderson were both grinning widely; Allegra was looking angrier by the second.

"Congratulations, Commander," Anderson said, shaking Cade's hand enthusiastically.

"We've got a lot of work to do," Udina said. "You'll need a ship, a crew, supplies . . . Anderson, come with me. I'll need your help to set all this up."

The two men departed, leaving Cade alone with Allegra.

"Well?" he asked.

"This figures," Allegra growled at him. "You get everything, don't you?" She spun on her heel and stalked off.

Cade watched her go in disbelief. She was _angry_ at him for being made a Spectre? He just couldn't do anything right!

* * *

Kaidan anxiously watched the elevator with the rest of the group. He hoped the meeting was going well and that the evidence Tali had given them would be enough to convince the Council of Saren's betrayal.

When the elevator doors opened to reveal Allegra, they all fired questions at her.

"How did it go?"

"Did they kick Saren out of the Spectres?"

"Did they Council believe you about the Reapers?"

"Have the humans joined the ranks of the Spectres?"

At this last question, Allegra huffed angrily and continued to stalk down the walkway.

"I take it she's angry about something," Ashley commented wryly.

Kaidan quickly started after Allegra as she hurried to the elevators that led down to the wards. He easily caught up and watched her punch the button for the elevator, then stomp onto it. Kaidan followed after her.

"It's so unfair," Allegra muttered darkly as the elevator began its slow climb down. "_I_ found Tali. _I _was on Eden Prime. I'm just as good of a soldier as he is."

"Better," Kaidan stated.

Allegra turned to look at him. "Then why is Cade a Spectre and not me? Why can't we both be Spectres?"

"I don't know what the council was thinking," Kaidan answered carefully. "Maybe they only want one human Spectre until they make sure we can handle it."

"Then why did they pick my goody two shoes brother?"

"Perhaps they were afraid your reputation would damage the impact of having a human Spectre."

"I'm so tired of this fucking _Butcher of Torfan_ thing!" Allegra yelled. "I did what I had to do to do my job. Soldiers die. That's just a fact of life."

"I know."

"It's not like I enjoyed watching them die. They were my teammates. But it had to happen."

"I know."

Allegra was studying him, a small frown on her face. "You sure do side with me a lot, Alenko."

"That's because I listen to what you have to say. Most people just assume you're evil, but you're not. You've just had a lot to deal with. Your brother is humanity's golden child and everyone expects you to be just like him. He gets all the attention and you end up being pushed aside."

Allegra slowly placed herself in front of Kaidan, pressing against him. He couldn't look away from her; the expression in her eyes drew him in. "I'm glad I have you on my side," she said huskily before kissing him on the lips.

Kaidan was taken completely by surprise. He _had_ been wondering what it would be like to kiss Allegra, not that he had ever imagined saying it to her face. But he he never thought it would actually happen.

Seizing the opportunity, because, really, who knew if he'd ever get another one, Kaidan slid his arms around her and deepened the kiss. Allegra's hands clutched in his hair and she moaned in pleasure. Kaidan pressed her up against the wall, intent on continuing, but the elevator dinged to announce its arrival on the wards.

Allegra and Kaidan sprang apart guiltily. Allegra quickly smoothed her hair and uniform, then exited the elevator and started walking off, not waiting for Kaidan.

After quickly checking to make sure he wouldn't embarrass himself, Kaidan followed Allegra, but at a safe distance.


	6. Searching

Allegra was cursing herself silently as she walked quickly through the wards towards C-Sec. What in the world had possessed her to _kiss_ Kaidan Alenko? He was her subordinate! There were regs about these kinds of things and for good reasons! Was she going crazy? She never did stuff like this.

She was hyper aware of him following her, even though he was hanging back about eight feet. It couldn't be avoided; they were going to the same place after all. She felt like all her senses were tuned into him and, surprisingly, it wasn't a bad feeling.

And kissing him had been _fantastic_. She didn't know if it was because he was off limits, the risk of being caught, or just the fact that Kaidan was an amazing kisser that made it so good. Maybe all three. Allegra's knees went a little weak remembering the feel of his lips on hers.

Well now what? They had a pretty huge task in front of them; they were obviously going to be in each other's presence for awhile. How was she supposed to act around him? Was she just supposed to pretend like the kiss never happened? Or did he expect more from her now?

He must have enjoyed it. He hadn't pushed her away. And he had admitted he thought she was beautiful. Maybe he liked her. Hopefully he liked her.

No, Allegra couldn't think like that. Hopefully he _didn't_ like her. There was no need to make this situation any more difficult. They couldn't be together no matter what. Liking each other would only make that harder.

Weeeeell . . . maybe they could get together but keep it a secret. There really wasn't any need for anyone in the Alliance to find out if Kaidan and Allegra decided to have a little one on one training time.

Allegra risked a glance back at Kaidan. He was staring determinedly at the floor.

No. She had to stop this. She was trying to prove herself to be a good leader. How could she do that if she let some guy get in the way?

She would talk to him.

Later.

It was in the elevator on the way to the docking bay that Allegra noticed Kaidan looked a little green.

"Are you feeling all right?" she asked.

"I'm fine. It's just a migraine. I get them sometimes from-"

"From your L2 implants," Allegra finished. At Kaidan's surprised look, she added, "Doctor Chakwas told me."

"I'll be fine. I just need to lie down for awhile."

When they reached the Normandy, Kaidan went ahead and boarded while Allegra stopped to talk to Udina and Anderson, who were waiting around for Cade.

She was surprised to learn Captain Anderson was stepping down from being the Normandy's commanding officer. She expressed her unhappiness to see him go.

"You'll watch out for your brother?" Anderson asked. "He's going to need your help."

"I'll take good care of him, sir," Allegra assured.

After another quick goodbye, Allegra disappeared into the Normandy.

* * *

Cade approached the Normandy, shocked to see Udina and Anderson standing on the docking platform. The two men noticed him at once.

"We've got big news for you, Shepard," Udina greeted. "The Normandy is yours now. Captain Anderson is stepping down at the commanding officer."

Anderson nodded. "She's perfect for a Spectre. Quick and quiet. And you know the crew. Treat her well, Commander."

"I'll take good care of her, sir," Cade promised.

"I know you will," Anderson replied quietly.

"Do we have any leads on Saren?" Cade asked.

"He's gone," Anderson said. "Don't even try to find him. However, we do know he's after the Conduit. He has the geth searching the Traverse for clues."

"There were reports of geth in the Feros system shortly before our communications with the colonies were cut," Udina said. "There have also been sightings near Noveria."

"You should find out what Saren was after on Feros and Noveria. There might be a chance you can figure out where the Conduit is before he does," Anderson added.

Cade nodded in understanding. "Anything else?" he asked.

"There is one more lead," Udina said. "Matriarch Benezia has a daughter. A scientist who specializes in the Protheans. We don't know if she is working with her mother and Saren, but it might be a good idea to find her, see if she knows anything. Her name is Dr. Liara T'Soni. She was exploring an archeological dig site on an uncharted world in the Artemis Tau cluster."

"I think I'll start by trying to find Dr. T'Soni," Cade decided.

"It's your decision, Commander. You're a Spectre now, you don't answer to us," Anderson said.

"But your actions do reflect on humanity as a whole," Udina spoke up. "If you make I mess, I get stuck cleaning it up."

"I'll try not to make things any harder on you, Ambassador," Cade replied diplomatically.

"I'm glad to hear that, Commander. You were a human long before you were a Spectre."

Udina excused himself and, after a quick chat with Anderson, Cade boarded the Normandy. It was now under his command. It was a strange feeling, but one that he enjoyed.

Cade walked up to Joker in the cockpit.

"I heard what happened to Captain Anderson," Joker greeted. "Survives a hundred battles, and then gets taken down by backroom politics. Watch your back, Commander. If things go bad on this mission, you'll be next on their chopping block."

"It feels like I'm stealing the ship from Anderson," Cade replied. "He should be the one in charge."

"The captain got screwed, but no one is blaming you," Joker said. "This crew's behind you, one hundred percent."

"Well, let's make sure it stays that way. Give everyone the night off. We'll leave first thing in the morning for the Artemis Tau cluster," Cade said. "I think I'll head to Flux. Anyone interested can join me."

"Sounds good, Commander," Joker smiled.

"But first, there are some things I need to discuss with my dear sister. Is she on board yet?"

"Down in the comm room, Commander," Joker answered. "She seems to be in a better mood."

"Good. Now get off this ship, Joker. You'll be stuck in that chair plenty once we leave." Cade turned and headed for the comm room.

* * *

Allegra stopped pacing the comm room to plop down into one of the seats against the wall. This was the first place she'd come to once she had boarded the Normandy. She just hadn't been in the mood to talk to anybody.

She was expecting Cade at any moment. Joker had told her he was back on the ship, looking for her. He had also told her that Cade had given the whole crew the night off to go drink with him at Flux. Allegra had to admit it was a good way to get the crew to like him, now that he was in complete charge of them.

"You don't want to go get some drinks with the rest of us?"

Allegra looked up to see Cade standing in the doorway with his arms crossed. _Speak of the devil_, she thought.

"It's the last chance you'll get before we leave," he continued.

Allegra shook her head. Kaidan was the only person Allegra wanted to hang out with, and he had taken refuge from his migraines in the medical bay.

Cade stepped into the room. "What are you doing in here anyway?" he asked.

"I wanted a quiet place to think," Allegra replied. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure." He sat down in one of the chairs and gave her his full attention.

"I'm sorry for behaving like I did after the Council meeting," Allegra began. "I was jealous you were made a Spectre. I had been hoping . . . I mean, the rational part of me knew it would never happen, but I had hoped that since I was the one to save Tali and everything, the Council might have chosen me instead of you. And when they chose you, I wasn't surprised, but I was angry. You get everything you've ever wanted, Cade. And now you're a Spectre. The first human Spectre. I was so jealous and it hurt so much and I should have just been proud of you. You're my brother, and you deserve the honor, and you'll make a wonderful Spectre. It's just . . . how could I ever compare to you, now that you're a Spectre? No matter what I do, you'll always be better than me."

Cade had listened to her silently, but now he spoke up. "Allegra, just because I'm a Spectre won't mean that your accomplishments will be any less impressive. I'll be proud of you, mom and dad will be proud of you, and this whole crew will be honored to have served under you. But to make that happen, we have to stop Saren. And I need you with me. I can't do this without you. If you hadn't been with me, I never would have gotten to Tali in time, and I never would have had the evidence against Saren. You and I are a team, and nothing can change that."

He stood up and pulled her into a hug. "You'll get a chance to be a hero, I can feel it," he whispered.

"Thanks, Cade."

They pulled away from each other. "You sure you don't want to come with us?" he asked.

"I just want to be alone for a while," Allegra replied.

Cade nodded. "Okay, but if you change your mind, we'll be at Flux." He spun on his heel and exited the comm room.

Allegra waited until she was sure everyone was off the Normandy before venturing out of the comm room and over to the medical bay. She slipped through the door and even though the lights were dimmed, she could see Kaidan stretched out on one of the beds, one of his arms thrown over his eyes. _Be professional, be professional, _she chanted in her head. She shuffled over to him, making some noise so as not to sneak up on him.

Kaidan lifted his arm and squinted over in her direction. "Shepard?" he croaked.

"Hi," she said. "How are you feeling?" That was professional; officers were allowed to care about the health of their soldiers.

Geez, now she was being defensive with herself!

"I'm better," Kaidan was saying. "My head still hurts, but it's not as bad as it was."

_Don't call him Kaidan, do __not__ call him Kaidan!_ "Kaidan . . ." _Damn . . ._ "We need to talk about what happened earlier," Allegra began cautiously. "I shouldn't have kissed you. It was inappropriate and unprofessional."

"Ye-" Kaidan started, but Allegra quickly interrupted him.

"It can't happen again. And it won't. I don't even know why it happened. I don't like you! Uh, I mean, _like that_. You're just a friend. Not even a friend really, just a soldier in my command. Partly my command." Allegra was stumbling over her words. She flushed in frustration. "I hope I'm being clear."

"Very clear," Kaidan replied with a wince.

"Good." She turned to walk away, but stopped and faced him over her shoulder. "Let's not mention this. The kiss, I mean, not this conversation. Although I suppose if we aren't mentioning the kiss, there'd be no reason to mention this conversation."

"Shepard," Kaidan said over her. "It's all right. I'll just forget it ever happened."

"Thanks for taking this so well, Kaidan," Allegra smiled.

"You should probably stop calling me Kaidan," he pointed out.

"Whoops!" Allegra giggled. "I'll leave you alone, _Lieutenant Alenko_."

She quickly escaped the medical bay, hurrying to the cargo hold to find something, _anything_, to do.

* * *

Cade managed to rouse himself fairly early the next day. He had had a few drinks the previous night, but not enough to get drunk. Mostly, he had sat around chatting to Ashley and Joker all night, sharing war stories.

He headed up to the cockpit, not surprised to see Joker already in his seat, ready to go. "Everyone aboard, Joker?"

"Yes, sir. They all managed to make it. Though some aren't quite fit for duty yet," Joker smirked in reply.

"I'll be lenient on them this time," Cade smiled.

"Still want to head out to the Artemis Tau cluster?"

Cade nodded. "Yes, we need to find Benezia's daughter. Hopefully, she'll be able to help us."

"Aye, aye, sir."

"Open the intercom, Joker," Cade instructed. "I need to be honest with the crew before we leave." Joker fiddled with a few controls, then Cade leaned closer to the intercom mic and announced, "This is Commander Shepard speaking. We have our orders: find Saren before he finds the Conduit. I won't lie to you, crew. This mission isn't going to be easy. For too long, our species has stood against the others. Now it's time for us to step up and do our part for the rest of the galaxy. Time to show them what humans are made of! Our enemy knows we're coming. When we go into the Traverse, Saren's followers will be waiting for us. But we'll be ready for them, too. Humanity needs to do this. Not just for our own sake, but for the sake of every other species in Citadel Space. Saren must be stopped, and I promise you all . . . we will stop him!"

Joker looked up at Cade, respect shining in his eyes. "Well said, Commander. The Captain would be proud."

"The Captain gave up everything so I could have this chance. We can't fail."

"Yes, sir!" Joker replied, saluting. "Now that we got that touchy-feely part out of the way . . ."

"Get us out of here, Joker," Cade said with a chuckle.

Joker set about preparing the Normandy for takeoff as Cade headed towards the galaxy map. He was surprised to see Allegra there waiting for him.

"Nice speech," she commented.

"Thank you."

"It really put me in the mood to kick some ass," Allegra continued, smirking.

"You should have joined us last night," Cade said, changing the subject. "We had a lot of fun."

"I had some other important things I had to take care of," she replied. "So, do you know where we're heading in the Artemis Tau cluster? Or are we just going to cross our fingers and hope we pick right?"

"Well," Cade began, stepping up to the galaxy map and enlarging the view of the Artemis Tau cluster, "we know that Dr. T'Soni is at a Prothean dig site."

"Yeah, that helps," Allegra scoffed. "There are four systems in the cluster. That's a lot of planets to choose from."

"I heard about some Prothean ruins recovered in the Knossos System awhile ago," Cade mused. "Maybe we should start there. When we get closer we can scan the planets, see what there is."

Allegra clapped him on the back. "Good plan, _Commander_."

He gave her a half-smile. "We've got awhile until we get to the system. I'm headed down to get to know some of our crew better. You want to join me?"

"No, that's all right," Allegra replied, looking away from him. "I think I'll head down to the mess. I haven't had breakfast yet."

Cade and Allegra headed down the stairs together, Allegra heading to the mess, and Cade heading for the elevator. He hummed to himself on the way down to the cargo hold, counting the tiles on the wall as they slowly passed. When the elevator arrived on the lower deck, Cade stepped out, immediately saw Wrex and decided to go say hi.

After a nice chat with Wrex about the genophage and dying krogan population, Cade hurried over to Ashley.

She looked up from polishing weapons as he approached. She was grinning widely, and Cade guessed that she had overheard his conversation with Wrex. "Wipe that smile off your face, Chief," he groaned playfully.

"Sorry, skipper," Ashley laughed. "But the look on your face as you tried to work your way around that conversation was priceless!"

"Why don't you just get back to work," Cade laughed.

"Aye, aye, sir," Ashley replied, still laughing.

Cade shook his head as he headed across to Garrus, who was checking over the Mako. They spent a few minutes conversing about Garrus' time at C-Sec. Cade had a feeling he would grow to really like Garrus; he seemed like a really cool guy. Cade was glad to have him on the team.

Finally, Cade made his way into the engine room and to the person he had been looking forward to talking to the most.

Tali stood gazing at the drive core. She turned slightly towards Cade as he stepped up next to her. "Your ship's amazing, Shepard," Tali greeted. "I've never seen a drive core like this before. I can't believe you were able to fit it in a ship this small."

Cade found himself wishing Tali didn't have to wear that helmet all the time. He wanted to see her face. It was much easier to talk to someone when you could see their expressions.

"I'm starting to understand why you humans have been so successful," Tali continued. "I had no idea Alliance vessels were so advanced!" She sounded impressed.

"The Normandy is a prototype," Cade answered. "Cutting edge technology."

"A month ago I was patching a makeshift fuel line into a converted tug ship in the flotilla. Now I'm standing on board one of the most advanced vessels in Citadel Space. I have to thank you again for allowing me to come with you. Traveling on a vessel like this is a dream come true for me."

"I had no idea you found ship technology so interesting," Cade smiled at her. There was so much about Tali that was a mystery. Cade really didn't know much at all about the quarians; he found Tali simply amazing.

"It comes with being a quarian," Tali said. "The Migrant Fleet is the key to the survival of my people. Ships are our most valuable resource. But we don't have anything like this. We make do with castoffs and second hand equipment. We just try to keep them running for as long as we can. Some of the Fleet's larger vessels date all the way back to our original flight from the geth."

"I can't believe your fleet is still using ships that are three centuries old," Cade said in amazement.

"They're constantly being repaired, modified, and refitted," Tali explained. "They aren't pretty, but they work. Mostly. We've tried to make ourselves as independent as possible on the flotilla. Grow our own food, mine and process our own fuel. But some things we just can't make on our own. A patch to maintain the hull integrity requires raw materials we just don't have. That's why our Pilgrimages are so important."

Cade spent a little longer talking with Tali. She taught him a lot about the quarians and he found it all very interesting. Eventually, he decided he'd better go do some actual work and bid Tali goodbye for the moment. He walked away from the engine room with a smile on his face.

* * *

Allegra felt herself drawn to Kaidan. She knew she should just stay away from him, but she couldn't help herself. Besides, she just wanted to talk to him. There was nothing wrong with that.

Kaidan looked up from the monitor he was working at as she approached. "Anything you need, Commander?" he asked, silently appraising her.

Allegra's skin tingled where his gaze landed. It felt like he was gently caressing her, but he stood three feet away. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay," she answered him. "After last night."

"Do you mean the migraines or the conversation we're not supposed to mention?"

Allegra cleared her throat nervously. "The migraines of course. We're not mentioning the conversation."

"You're right, we're not. But my migraine is much better. Almost completely gone."

"That's good." Allegra realized she was staring at Kaidan's lips and quickly moved her gaze up to his eyes. He hadn't seemed to notice.

"So," Kaidan finally said, "we're heading to the Knossos System?"

"Yes," Allegra answered, pleased they were on a much easier conversation topic. "Cade wants to find Dr. T'Soni. He thinks she can help us."

"What if she's working for Saren?"

"Then we kill her," Allegra replied nonchalantly.

Kaidan grinned crookedly at her. Allegra sighed at the beautiful sight it made. Then she shook herself out of the sudden lust filled haze surrounding her.

"What planet is she on?" Kaidan asked.

"We don't know. I was going to go research the planets in the system and see which one was the most likely for her to be on." Her stomach suddenly growled very loudly. "And eat breakfast," she added, glaring down at her stomach.

Kaidan chuckled. "I'll join you . . . if that's all right. I haven't eaten yet either."

"Uh, sure," Allegra agreed. She didn't know if it was such a good idea to eat breakfast all alone with Kaidan. Really, she shouldn't be spending any time _alone_ with him until she got over this silly crush she had seemed to develop on him. Honestly, it was like she had never seen an attractive man before. And she had. She'd seen plenty of attractive men. Maybe none quite as handsome or charming or cute as the lieutenant, but she had never gone all awkward and shy and giddy over _them_.

She only felt this way for Kaidan because she hadn't been with a man in a _very_ long time, and Kaidan was there and single, if not necessarily available. Allegra could easily get over this feeling. Not having sex in more time than she cared to admit was no reason for her to lose her head like this.

Allegra was equally disappointed and relieved when Ashley appeared in the mess and joined them for breakfast. The Gunnery Chief was in a great mood, laughing over something about Cade and Wrex. As the three of them sat down for breakfast, Ashley filled them in on everything they had missed the night before.

"You should have come," Ashley said, her mouth full of food.

"Next time, I promise," Allegra replied.

After breakfast, Allegra disappeared into Captain Anderson's old quarters, which was now Cade's bedroom. She sat down at his computer, and started searching for information on the Knossos System. Cade showed up an hour later and helped her look for information.

Soon enough, Joker announced they would be arriving in the system shortly. Allegra followed Cade up to the command center where they accessed the galaxy map. They scanned a few of the planets and asteroids, but they had their sights set on Therum. Their research had found that many Prothean ruins had been found on Therum's surface, so it seemed a fitting place for a Prothean scientist to be.

Cade ordered Allegra and Kaidan to suit up and meet him in the Mako.

"Are you sure you want Alenko to join us?" Allegra asked Cade. "Why not Williams?"

"Either would be useful, but I figured Alenko would be good if we came across anything technical. Why are you being so weird about this?"

"I'm not," Allegra defended.

Cade gave her a disbelieving look. "If you don't like Alenko for some reason you better tell me now so I can make sure I don't have you two working together."

"No! It's not that!" Allegra said quickly.

Cade shook his head slowly. "I'll never understand you," he sighed. "Just get ready."

Allegra watched him walk off then quickly went to grab her weapons and armor. As she walked down the Mako, she tried to focus on the mission at hand and not on how well Kaidan looked in the new armor Cade had bought for him.

Allegra silently climbed aboard the Mako, sitting in the passenger seat while Cade sat in the driver's seat and Kaidan crawled into the back.

Joker brought them in to the planet and the Mako dropped down to the very toasty planet below.


	7. Therum

Liara T'Soni had the most awful itch on her side. It had been bothering her for the last fifteen minutes, but, no matter what she tried, she couldn't scratch it. Not for the first time did she think turning on the Prothean security field was a bad decision.

She really should have thought that move through more. Liara never jumped first; she always analyzed, deduced, and problem solved her way through a situation before diving on in. But she hadn't had time to think when the geth appeared. So she activated the security field without thinking of the possibility that she might get caught inside.

And now she was stuck. She'd been stuck for _hours_.

She hoped fervently that someone, _anyone_, would come to save her, but no one even knew where she was. For all she knew, she was probably going to die in this security field.

What a depressing thought.

Distant sounds of gunfire made Liara look up. She couldn't see anything too far away from her Prothean prison. Liara's hopes shot up. Maybe someone was coming to rescue her!

The reasonable part of her mind took over. No, it was more likely that the geth were just testing guns or doing something . . . geth-y.

And what were the geth doing on Therum, anyway? Liara had been pondering the answer to that question for well over two hours now. The geth hadn't left the Veil in hundreds of years and now they showed up on a distant planet like _Therum_? It didn't make sense. The only things on Therum were Prothean ruins, a few Alliance mining outposts, and Liara. What would the geth want with any of those?

The elevator near Liara suddenly started to move. It creaked and groaned as it slowly made it was down the shaft. Liara prepared herself for more geth. At least they wouldn't be able to get through the security field.

A shower of sparks accompanied a loud screeching noise as the elevator broke down. It stopped right above the place where some of the walkways had collapsed. Liara could see through some of the holes in the walkways and what she saw made her gasp in surprise. That wasn't geth on the elevator! It looked like humans!

"Uh . . . hello?" she called tentatively. "Could somebody help me? Please?"

Three humans slowly approached Liara. They looked at the security field and at Liara curiously.

"Can you hear me out there? I need help, I'm trapped!" Liara shouted to them.

"Are you okay? What happened to you?" one of the males asked.

"My name is Dr. Liara T'Soni. I'm an archaeologist. This thing is a Prothean security device," Liara quickly explained. "I cannot move so I need you to get me out."

"We need to figure some way past this energy field," the female said, inspecting the field carefully with the second male.

"It's a Prothean barrier," Liara said. "It was keeping me safe from the geth. When I turned it on I must have hit something I wasn't supposed to. I was trapped in here. Please, you have to get me out!"

"We'll find some way to help you," the first male promised.

"There is a control in here that should deactivate the device. You'll have to find some way past the barrier though. And that will not be easy. The defenses cannot be shut off from the outside. I don't know how you will get in here." Liara looked the three of them over. "Be careful," she warned. "There is a krogan with the geth. They've been trying to find a way past the barrier. I don't know what they want with me."

"Your mother is working with Saren," the female replied, as though that explained everything.

"What? Who is Saren?"

"A rogue turian Spectre hell bent on trying to destroy the galaxy," she explained. "Whose side are you on, T'Soni?"

"I am not on anybody's side!" Liara exclaimed indignantly. "I may be Benezia's daughter but I am not anything like her! I have not even spoken to her in years!"

"I don't know if we should trust her," the female muttered to the others.

"We still need to get her out," the first male decided.

The three humans disappeared from Liara's view. A minute later there was the sound of more gunfire, then silence. Then, quite unexpectedly, a huge boom that shook the cavern. Liara looked around her in fright. Had the humans gotten themselves blown up?

Suddenly, the huge elevator behind Liara began moving. They had found a way through! Liara breathed a sigh of relief as she realized she would soon be getting out of this awful predicament.

"How did you get in here?" Liara asked as the humans approached her once more. "I didn't think there was any way past the barrier!"

"We blasted through with the mining laser," the female grinned.

"Of course! That makes sense," Liara replied. "Please, get me out of here before more geth arrive. That button over there should shut down this containment field."

The second male, who had yet to say a word, walked over to the controls and hit the button Liara indicated.

Liara suddenly dropped the few feet down to the ground, landing with a loud, "Oof!" The first thing she did was scratch that annoying itch on her side, then she stood up and had a nice stretch. "Thank you," Liara said thankfully. "I . . . I don't know your names."

"I'm Commander Cade Shepard," the first male introduced. "This is Commander Allegra Shepard, and Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko."

"Any idea how we get out of this place?" Allegra asked.

"The elevator you rode up here on. It should be able to take us out," Liara suggested.

Cade led them over to the elevator. As Kaidan looked over the controls, Liara murmured, "I still can't believe all this. Why would the geth come after me? Do you think Benezia's involved?"

"Saren's looking for the conduit," Cade said.

"The Conduit?" Liara said in surprise. "But I don't know-" She cut herself off as the whole cavern shook ominously.

"What the hell was that?" Allegra cried.

"These ruins are not stable," Liara realized. "The mining laser must have triggered a seismic event. We have to hurry before the whole place caves in."

Cade radioed in to Joker as Kaidan hit the controls to move the elevator. The elevator began its journey upwards as the cavern rumbled around them. Liara looked around nervously. She didn't have a weapon, and if they ran into the krogan she'd have to rely on her biotics. But after spending all those hours trapped in that security device, Liara didn't feel all that strong.

The elevator made it to the top floor, and Liara looked up to see her worst fears had come true. The krogan and his geth were there waiting for them. Would the humans protect her? Liara didn't think they really believed she wasn't working with Benezia. But maybe they thought she might know something about the Conduit, so perhaps they would protect her.

"Surrender," the krogan ordered. "Or don't. That would be more fun."

"We don't have time to deal with this idiot!" Allegra yelled.

"Agreed!" Cade shouted.

The humans opened fire on the krogan and geth. Liara yelped and made a beeline for the side of the elevator where there was some protection. She threw up a biotic barrier around herself and watched the humans attack. The geth were no match for them, and they ganged up on the krogan, easily taking him down. Liara was impressed at their skill. She didn't want to get on their bad side.

By the time the four of them made it to the walkways, giant rocks were falling from the ceiling. Liara stared up at the growling ceiling in alarm, too frightened to move. Allegra gave her a push, causing Liara to stumble forward, and then she had no choice but to run and dodge the falling rocks.

They ran full speed along the walkway, narrowly missing huge chunks of debris. Liara skidded once, but Cade managed to grab her arm and haul her in front of him. Liara didn't breathe again until she was safely out of the cavern and back on solid ground. Miraculously, they all made it out right before the entire cavern collapsed.

Liara looked at the gasping humans and wondered what would happen next.

* * *

Allegra glanced curiously at the asari standing next to her in the decontamination room on the Normandy. Liara had _said_ she wasn't working with Benezia, but Allegra knew how easy it was to lie. She didn't like the idea of bringing the asari onto the Normandy, but Cade had insisted. He seemed to trust Liara for some reason. Though, Cade seemed to trust a lot of people very quickly. That would bite him in the ass one day, Allegra was sure of it.

Cade ordered them all to the comm room for an immediate debriefing. As Allegra escorted Liara to the back of the Normandy, Liara looked around at the ship in unmasked awe. In the comm room, Allegra pushed Liara into a chair, then sat as far away from her as possible.

Kaidan chose the seat next to Allegra, giving her a quick smile as he sat down. He sure was making it difficult to forget about their kiss.

Slowly, the rest of the crew filed into the comm room. They all looked curiously over at Liara before sitting down. Only Cade remained standing.

"Too close, Commander," Joker said over the intercom. "Ten more seconds and we would've been swimming in molten sulphur. The Normandy isn't equipped to land in exploding volcanoes. They tend to fry our sensors and melt our hull. Just for future reference."

Allegra smiled at Joker's wry sarcasm as everyone else rolled their eyes.

"We almost died out there, and your pilot is making jokes?" Liara questioned.

"Joker pulled our asses out of there. I think he's earned the right to make a few bad jokes," Cade replied.

"I see. It must be a human thing," Liara said. "I don't have a lot of experience dealing with your species, Commander. But thank you. You saved my life back there. From the geth and the volcano."

"What did Saren want with you?" Kaidan asked her. "Do you know something about the Conduit?"

"Only that it was somehow connected to the Prothean extinction. That is my real area of expertise. I have spent the past fifty years trying to figure out what happened to them," Liara said.

"How old are you?" Allegra asked inquisitively.

"I hate to admit it, but I am only a hundred and six," Liara replied sheepishly.

"Damn!" Ashley blurted. "I hope I look that good when I'm your age!"

"A century may seem like a long time to you humans," Liara replied. "But among the asari, I am barely considered more than a child. Which is why my research has not received a lot of attention. Because I am young, other asari scholars tend to dismiss my theories. I have heard all sorts of reasons why they might have disappeared," she continued. "The problem is finding evidence to support those theories. The Protheans left very little behind. It is as if someone did not want the mystery solved, like someone came along after the Protheans were gone and wiped the galaxy of clues. According to my research, the Protheans were not the first galactic civilization to mysteriously disappear. The cycle began long before them."

"If the Protheans weren't the first, then who was?" Cade asked.

"I don't know," Liara admitted. "There is barely any evidence on the Protheans, and even less on those who came before them. I cannot prove my theory, but I know I am right."

"So what is this cycle?" Allegra asked.

"The galaxy is built on a cycle of extinction," Liara began. "Each time a great civilization rises up, it is suddenly and violently cast own. Only ruins survive. The Protheans were simply the most recent civilization to be wiped out. I have spent my life trying to figure out how."

"They were wiped out by a race of sentient machines called Reapers," Cade declared.

"The Reapers?" Liara clarified. "How do you know this? What evidence do you have?"

"There was a damaged Prothean beacon on Eden Prime," Cade said. "It burned a vision into my brain. I'm still trying to figure out what it means."

"That makes sense. The beacons were designed to transmit information directly into the mind of the user. Finding one that still works is extremely rare." Liara sounded very excited. "No wonder the geth attack Eden Prime. The chance to recover a working beacon is worth almost any risk! But the beacons were only programmed to work with Prothean physiology. Whatever information you received would have been confused, unclear. I am amazed you were able to make sense of it at all."

"This isn't helping us find Saren, or the Conduit," Kaidan interrupted.

"I am sorry," Liara apologized. "My scientific curiosity got the better of me. Unfortunately, I do not have any information that could help you find the Conduit or Saren.

"Looks like we wasted our time here," Allegra grumbled.

"Please, Commander," Liara pleaded to Cade. "Saren may attempt another attack on my life. I feel I would be safer here with you. Besides, my knowledge of the Protheans might prove useful to you later."

Cade nodded. "Good to have you on the team, Liara," he smiled.

"Thank you, Commander, I am very grateful." Liara suddenly swayed a little. "Whoa, I am feeling a little light-headed," she explained.

"When was the last time you ate? Or slept?" Kaidan asked in concern. "You should let Dr. Chakwas take a look at you."

"It is probably just mental exhaustion," Liara replied. "I just need some time to process everything. Still, it could not hurt to be examined by a medical professional. Are we finished here, Commander?"

"We can talk again after you've seen Dr. Chakwas," Cade decided. "The rest of you, dismissed!"

Allegra left with the rest of the team as Cade contacted the Council with their mission report. Stepping through the doorway of the comm room, she came face to face with Kaidan asking Liara if she needed help finding the med bay.

Liara placed a hand on Kaidan's arm as she swayed with exhaustion. "That would be wonderful," she replied. Kaidan took her by the arm and slowly led her away.

Allegra's eyes narrowed at the sight. Rationally, she knew it meant nothing, but jealousy still coursed through her.

She needed to do something distracting . . .

"Garrus!" she called to the approaching turian. "Great timing!"

"Is there something I can help you with, Commander?" Garrus asked curiously.

"I just wanted to talk," Allegra replied casually.

"Talk away," Garrus chuckled.

"So . . . why did you become a C-Sec officer?" she asked.

"That's a good question," Garrus answered. "There were several reasons, I guess. I wanted to fight injustice, help people. I guess my father had something to do with it too. He was a C-Sec officer, one of the best. I grew up hearing about his accomplishments or seeing his picture of the vids after a big arrest."

"I can relate to that," Allegra muttered. "Both of my parents are officers in the Alliance. Cade and I never really had a choice of joining the Alliance. It was always assumed. So, how does your father feel about your resignation from C-Sec?"

"He's taking it pretty hard," Garrus admitted.

"Isn't he impressed that you're going after Saren?"

"My father is a C-Sec man to the bone. 'Do things right, or don't do them at all', he says. He thinks I'm being too rash. Too impatient. He's worried I'll become just like Saren. He actually talked me out of becoming a Spectre when I was younger. For the same reasons."

Allegra looked at Garrus in surprise. "You were asked to be a Spectre?"

"Why so shocked?" Garrus laughed. "I wasn't asked outright, I was targeted as a possible candidate. Me and about a thousand other turian military recruits. My father hates Spectres. He doesn't like the idea of someone having unlimited power with no accountability. He wouldn't like your brother very much."

"He'd be the only one. Everyone loves Cade."

"I've noticed that," Garrus said. "He's a very well respected man. But just between you and me," Garrus whispered, leaning closer to Allegra, "you're my favorite twin."

Allegra laughed. "Thanks, Garrus."

"I should be getting back to my post," Garrus announced.

"I'll come with you," Allegra said. "I suppose I should go say hi to Wrex so he doesn't get lonely."

Allegra and Garrus took the elevator done to the lower deck. Garrus headed over towards the Mako as Allegra walked towards Wrex.

"So, we've got Saren on the run," Wrex greeted.

"It won't be long now," Allegra replied. "Saren's good, but we're better."

"Good?" Wrex scoffed. "He's rotten to the core. I knew it as soon as I met him."

"You've met him before? Why didn't you tell us sooner?"

"I would have, if I had thought it was important."

"Tell me how you know Saren, and _I'll_ decided if it's important," Allegra argued.

"This was awhile ago," Wrex began. "A bunch of mercs were bragging about a job they had out near the edges of the Terminus Systems. They said it was good pay, and the boss was never around. I found out they were looking for more men, so I checked it out."

"I didn't know Saren was openly recruiting mercs."

"It wasn't that open. And he only showed his face once," Wrex explained. "Anyway, we'd been raiding ships in the area for months when we took out this massive cargo freighter. I was on board checking bodies for valuables when I saw him."

"What did Saren want with the ship?" Allegra asked.

"I don't know," Wrex said with a shrug. "He was just moving through the ship, watching. A couple of the mercs called him by name, but he never spoke to them. Or to anybody. I had a really bad feeling about him, so I got the hell out. Didn't even wait to get paid. But my instincts were right. Every other merc on that ship turned up dead within a week. Every damn one."

Allegra felt a small chill creep up her spine. "Thanks for telling me, Wrex."

"Anytime, Shepard."

Allegra gave him a quick wave goodbye, then headed back towards the elevator. She intended to go up to the CIC to talk to Cade, but only made it to the middle deck. As she exited the elevator, the doors to the medical bay seemed to scream at her.

Allegra slowly approached the doors, glaring at them. Was Kaidan still in there fussing over Liara? Was Liara well enough for Allegra to go harass her for awhile? Cade would get so pissed if Allegra did or said anything to Liara, but Allegra didn't trust her. Who doesn't talk to their mother for years? Allegra hadn't seen her mother in a long time, but they still _communicated_.

"Commander?"

Allegra jumped at the sound of Kaidan's voice behind her. She whirled around, her heart thumping loudly. "Don't sneak up on me like that!" she cried.

"Sorry, Commander," Kaidan said sheepishly. "Do you have a minute?"

"I always make time for my officers," Allegra replied, taking deep breaths to calm herself.

"Off the record, I think there is something wrong here. Saren is looking for records on some kind of galactic extinction, and we still can't get support from the Council? There's writing on the wall here, but someone isn't reading it."

"The Council doesn't want to believe anything is wrong," Allegra said with a small shrug. "I'd call it human nature, except for the fact that they're aliens."

Kaidan nodded in agreement. "It just seems that a group that's been around as long as the Council should see this coming. It's funny, we finally get out here and the final frontier was already settled. And the residents don't even seem impressed by the view. Or the dangers."

Allegra appraised him. "You're a romantic," she replied, smiling. "Did you sign on for 'the dream', Alenko? Secure man's future in space?"

Kaidan chuckled. "I did read a lot of those books when I was a kid. Where the hero goes to space to prove himself to the woman he loves. Or, you know, for justice." He sighed. "Maybe I was a romantic in the beginning, but I thought about it after Brain Camp – ah, sorry, 'Biotic Acclimation and Temperance training'. I'm not looking for the 'the dream'. I just want to do some good and see what's out here."

Allegra curiously asked him about BAaT and Kaidan told her all about it. When he started talking about the other kids who were there, and, more specifically, about a girl named Rahna, his eyes went misty and he got lost in his thoughts for a moment.

"Sounds like Rahna was special to you," Allegra said, softly.

"She was," Kaidan replied. "Maybe she felt the same, but . . . things never fell together. Training, you know."

Allegra tried desperately not to feel the rush of relief that ran through her. But, as much as she hated to admit it, she didn't want any other woman to have a chance at Kaidan, and she was extremely jealous of the ones who did.

She just didn't know how to handle this. Allegra had never fallen for a guy so quickly and so completely. Of course, it didn't help that Kaidan was off limits. Or that he was so gorgeous it hurt. She'd always been a sucker for broad shoulders, and Kaidan had _really nice_ shoulders.

Allegra realized Kaidan was still talking about BAaT. She forcibly brought herself back to the present just as Kaidan was ending the discussion.

"This was supposed to be a casual debrief, not a bull session about stuff that happened years ago," he said.

Allegra shook her head. "I wanted to get to know you a little better, that's all. Thanks for the talk, Kaidan."

"Well, you're welcome. Ma'am," he said slowly. "Do you make a habit of getting this personal with everyone?"

"No, I don't," she replied honestly. "And I don't just kiss anybody either," she added quietly.

"I, uh, I thought we weren't discussing that?"

"I've been having trouble forgetting it," Allegra admitted.

"Me too," Kaidan whispered.

They looked at each other. Allegra felt like she should say something, but her mind was blank. She needed to get out of here. "We'll talk later," she promised, then hurried away. She quickly turned back, though. She had to know. "What's your opinion on T'Soni?"

"She seems nice enough," he shrugged. "I mean, if you like the bookish sort."

"Any intentions there, Lieutenant?" Allegra asked, her gaze narrowing.

Kaidan looked at her in surprise. "None, Commander," he said firmly. "I prefer adventurous women."

Allegra couldn't stop the grin that spread across her face. She was adventurous _and_ he didn't like Liara! "That's all, Alenko," she said. She walked away with a slight spring in her step.

* * *

After Cade reported in to the Council, he headed up to the galaxy map to determine where they were headed next. Udina and Anderson had said geth sightings had been reported on both Feros and Noveria. He felt like he should go to Feros seeing as how all contact with the colony there had been lost. But Cade had a feeling about Noveria. Cade always trusted his instincts; it's what had kept him alive during the Blitz.

So, Cade told Joker to set a course for Noveria, then he headed down to the medical bay to see if Liara was up to talking yet. He was very curious about her, but that might just be because he had never met many asari before. He was well aware that most of his crew, Allegra especially, didn't quite trust Liara yet. But Cade had no reason _not_ to trust her. She seemed to be telling the truth about everything, and just because her mother might be on Saren's side, didn't mean that she was.

Cade entered the med bay and saw Dr. Chakwas standing at her desk. "Where's Liara?" he asked.

"In the back office," Chakwas replied. "She's well enough for you to talk to her."

"It's like you read my mind," Cade smiled. He hurried through the doors into the back office.

Liara was seated at the desk. She looked over her shoulder as Cade entered, quickly standing as he approached her. "Commander, are you here to check up on me?" she asked.

"I was worried about you," Cade answered. "How are you feeling?"

"Better now. Dr. Chakwas assured me I was going to be fine. I was impressed with her knowledge of asari physiology."

"Dr. Chakwas knows what she's doing," Cade replied, smiling.

"I never properly thanked you for saving me from the geth," Liara continued. "If you hadn't shown up, I would still be stuck in that containment field . . . or worse."

"I'm just glad we got there in time," Cade said.

"So am I," Liara assured. "Commander, I know you took a chance bringing me aboard. I have seen the way your crew looks at me. I know they do not trust me. But I am not like Benezia. I will do whatever I can to stop Saren. You have my word."

"Don't worry, Liara, I trust you. I know you won't let me down."

"Thank you, Commander. That means a lot."

Cade asked Liara a bit about herself. She told him about her studies on the Protheans. As she discussed her work, it was obvious how much she enjoyed her job. She was really fascinated by the past and what had become of the Protheans.

"I find you very interesting, Shepard," she told Cade with enthusiasm. "You were marked by the beacon on Eden Prime, you were touched by working Prothean technology."

"Sounds like you want to dissect me in a lab somewhere!" Cade chucked nervously.

"What? No!" Liara gasped in alarm. "I did not mean to insinuate . . . I never meant to offend you, Shepard," she stammered. "I only meant that you would be an interesting specimen for an in-depth study. No, that's even worse!"

"Calm down, Liara. I was only joking," Cade interrupted her.

"Oh, by the goddess!" Liara cried. "How did I not see that?" She laughed it off. "I always seem to say something embarrassing around other people."

Cade tried to ask Liara if she knew why Benezia would side with Saren, but Liara couldn't think of a good reason. Liara had never imagined her mother would side with someone trying to destroy the galaxy, and she couldn't even begin to fathom why.

After discussing the asari in general for a bit, Cade excused himself and headed down to the lower deck to find Tali. He was looking forward to talking with the quarian, but when he got down to her station, Tali greeted him rather glumly.

"Oh, hello, Shepard."

"Are you okay?" Cade asked worriedly. Had she gotten sick? Was she regretting her decision to join them aboard the Normandy?

"I don't know," Tali said with a small sigh. "The ship is amazing, and your crew has been really nice to me. I just feel . . . out of place. The Normandy runs so smooth it's like we're not even moving! And the engines are so quiet! How do you sleep at night?"

"The silence wakes you up?" Cade asked in disbelief.

"Back on the flotilla, the last thing you want to hear is silence. It means an engine's died or an air filter's shut down," Tali explained. "You don't have to worry about that here, but old habits die hard. But it's not just the silence. The ship feels so empty. I'm used to the crowds on the flotilla. I was so excited to go on my Pilgrimage to get away from it, but now that I'm here, I miss them."

"Sometimes we don't appreciate what we have until it's gone," Cade said wisely.

"That's true," Tali agreed. "I'm starting to wonder if that's what the Pilgrimage is really about. To give us a whole new perspective on our people and culture." She sighed heavily. "We have to stop Saren, Shepard, or I might not have a home to go back to once this is all over."

"We'll stop him, Tali," Cade promised. "You can count on it."

It was with a renewed vigor that Cade headed back up to the console in his room to do some research.


	8. Port Hanshan

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** WTF? What happened to the time? It's been two months since I updated? I knew this chapter was kicking my ass but jeeeeeez! Sorry for the wait! I'll try to get the next couple chapters out soon.

* * *

Allegra was _not_ looking forward to going to Noveria. She did not do well with cold climates, and if the recent weather reports were correct, their destination was currently being bombarded by a huge blizzard. With any luck, she wouldn't have to step foot outside, but her luck never held. She could see them having to trek around the mountainsides with no Mako on some stupid side quest.

She really hoped that didn't happen.

Although. . . freezing temperatures were a great excuse to get closer to Kaidan, to conserve body heat and all that. She could just picture them wrapped cozily in each other's arms, oblivious to the raging storm around them.

It was too bad she was his superior. They could have had a lot of fun together.

Sighing to herself, Allegra finally paid attention to where she was walking, surprised to find herself in the cockpit. She glanced towards Joker, her head still full of thoughts of Kaidan. Joker seemed like he knew the Lieutenant pretty well. Allegra felt a little jealous, actually, because she really didn't know all that much about him. Just that he was gorgeous and sweet, and that was enough to get her imagination whirring.

Allegra carefully eased herself into the chair next to Joker, sitting sideways so she could face him.

"Yeees?" Joker asked, drawing out the word.

"You and Kaidan are friends right?" Allegra began.

"Kaidan, is it?" Joker teased. "Since when are you two on a first name basis?"

Allegra blushed, a fact which Joker immediately noticed, causing his eyebrows to rise nearly up to his hairline. "Joker, focus," she muttered.

"I guess you could say _Kaidan_ and I are friends," Joker finally replied, emphasizing Kaidan's name.

Allegra rolled her eyes.

"Why do you ask?" Joker questioned, looking over at her curiously.

"I was just wondering what sorts of things he likes," Allegra said slowly, studying her hands intently.

"Oh, well that's easy. He likes romantic candlelit dinners for two, silk sheets, long walks on a moonlit beach-"

"Is it ever possible for you to be serious just once?" Allegra interrupted, glowering.

"Fine, fine," Joker sighed, "I won't have any fun. This is serious Joker now."

"Oh, just tell me already!" Allegra cried, thoroughly frustrated. Why had she decided to go to Joker to ask about Kaidan?

"Honestly, Commander, we don't really talk about our likes and dislikes. We're men. We discuss women and technology. That sort of thing."

"He's discussed women with you?" Allegra asked, trying not to sound too curious.

"Oh, yeah," Joker said with a chuckle. "One woman in particular."

"Is that so?" God, why was there so much jealousy ripping through her all of a sudden? So Kaidan possibly liked someone. Big deal. It wasn't like she and Kaidan had a _thing _going on. They had kissed once. It hadn't really meant anything, even though Allegra hadn't been able to stop replaying the memory in her head every five seconds.

"Commander, no offense, but are you completely _blind_?" Joker asked her seriously.

"What are you talking about?"

"You can't tell me that you have no idea that Kaidan is hopelessly attracted to you."

Allegra's heart stopped beating for a brief second, then restarted, double-time. "He is?" she said in a whisper, eyes wide.

"You _didn't_ know?" Joker gaped. Then he laughed. Uproariously.

"H-he never said anything," she stammered.

"Of course he didn't! You're his commanding officer. Can you say awkward?"

"But . . . he was so quick to agree to forget about the kiss!" Allegra muttered.

"Whoa, what?" Joker cried. He turned to look at her. "What's this about a kiss?"

Allegra ignored him. "I, uh, have to go," she said before hurrying away.

* * *

Ashley frowned in Liara's general direction as she shoveled food into her mouth. Liara was chatting animatedly with Cade, who was leaning casually up against the wall. He looked so relaxed and _happy_. Ashley glared down at her pile of mashed potatoes. She was so angry she didn't even notice their awful taste.

"I sure can't wait for Noveria," a deep voice said right next to her. "We can stop and have a _real _meal for once."

Ashley looked up to see Cade standing there, chuckling. His masculine scent washed over her; Ashley tried not to swoon. She wasn't a swooning type of girl, anyway.

Cade sat down next to her. Ashley looked over to where he had been standing chatting up Liara. Liara was gone. Maybe he had pissed her off so now he had come to her for some romance. No, scratch that. Ashley _did not_ want to be second choice to anybody, but especially to an _alien_. Maybe Cade didn't even like Liara. Maybe he liked Ashley! Maybe he was asking Liara tips on how to romance Ashley! _Hah, take that you blue, cock-munching twat_, Ashley thought happily.

"So what were you and Liara discussing?" Ashley found herself asking. God, she just couldn't keep her mouth shut!

Well, she _was _curious . . .

"Nothing important. She was just telling me a little about her mother."

"Oh." They were discussing family? That meant things were kind of serious, right?

"I'm getting the feeling you don't really like her," Cade said suddenly. "Am I right?"

"What?" Ashley gasped. "Why would you think that?"

Cade smiled at her. "You're always glaring at her and any time she comes up to you, you find a way to quickly get out of the room."

"I'm really that obvious?"

"Yep."

Ashley swore.

"Is it her specifically, or is it just because you don't like aliens in general?" Cade asked.

"I don't trust her," Ashley began. "Not because she's an alien. Because her mother is working with Saren."

"I trust her," Cade answered simply.

"I'm just not sure I buy her story about not talking to her mother. They're family, right? Families talk."

"I think she's being straight with us," Cade said. "Or, at least, she doesn't lie very often."

"I suppose you're right. She's probably really bad at lying. Hey, want me to ask her about her sex life? Might be real illuminating," she joked.

"I don't think she's used to teasing, good-natured or otherwise," Cade replied.

"You're no fun, Commander," Ashley pouted jokingly. Inside, she boiled. He was protecting Liara! There _was_ something going on between them.

"I'm plenty of fun, Williams," Cade replied. "Just haven't had much of an opportunity yet." He smiled at her so warmly that Ashley was glad she was sitting, or her legs would have turned to jelly on her. "I'd better get up to the cockpit to check on Joker. We should be arriving to Noveria anytime."

Ashley watched him walk away, trying not to think about how much she enjoyed the view.

* * *

Cade headed up to the cockpit as Joker prepared to take them down to Noveria.

"Approach control," Joker said into the comm, "this is the SSV Normandy requesting a vector and a berth."

"Normandy, your arrival was not scheduled," a voice replied. "Our defense grid is armed and tracking you. State your business."

Joker looked over his shoulder at Cade. "Citadel business," he told Approach Control. "We've got a Spectre on board,"

"Landing access granted, Normandy," came the reply after a brief pause. "Be advised we will be confirming identification on arrival. If confirmation cannot be established, your vessel will be impounded."

"What a fun bunch," Joker commented wryly. "I think I'll take my next leave here."

He easily brought the Normandy into dock and Cade met the rest of the team at the airlock to disembark.

The eight of them made their way through the docking area to the entrance to the port. There they were greeted by three security officers with their weapons out.

"That's far enough," one of the female officers said, raising a hand to signal them to stop.

"We're not here to cause problems," Cade said, raising his hands in surrender.

"This is an unscheduled arrival. I need your credentials," the officer continued.

"I'm a Spectre. My name is Shepard," Cade replied.

"Load of horsecrap, ma'am," the other female officer muttered. "There aren't any human Spectres."

"We will need to confirm that," the first officer said, ignoring the other. "Also, I must tell you that firearms are not permitted on Noveria. Sergeant Stirling, secure their weapons."

The second female officer took a few steps forward, sneering at them.

In unison, the whole of Cade's team brought up their weapons, aiming at the officers. The three officers followed suit.

"Back away, nice and slow," Ashley growled.

"Stand down," Cade decided after a tense moment. "Their house, their rules."

"Come on, Cade, we can take them. There's eight of us and only three of them," Allegra said.

"We are authorized to use lethal force," the officer in charge warned.

"Ooh, scary," Allegra mocked.

"Captain Matsuo, stand down!" a voice called over the intercom. "We confirmed their identity. Spectres are authorized to carry weapons here.

Captain Matsuo sighed and lowered her gun. "You may proceed, Spectre. I hope the rest of your visit is less confrontational."

Cade and his team put their guns away as the three officers retreated to their positions against the walls. Cade led his team through the doors and into the lobby area. They were stopped at the counter by an alarm suddenly going off.

"Weapons detectors," a woman dressed entirely in pink explained. She came closer to the counter and turned the alarm off. She smiled at Cade, "I am Gianna Parasini, assistant to Administrator Anoleis. We apologize for the incident in the docking bay."

"Someone piss in your security chief's coffee today?" Allegra commented.

"She takes her job very seriously," Gianna replied. "One of my duties is orientation for new arrivals. Do you have any questions?"

"Has anyone unusual passed through here recently?" Cade asked.

"An asari Matriarch passed through a few days ago. Lady Benezia."

"Benezia?" Liara spoke up in surprise. "She is here?"

"Where is she now?" Cade asked.

"Benezia left for the research facility on Peak 15 days ago. To the best of my knowledge, she's still there."

"I need to get to Peak 15 then," Cade said.

"You'll need to ask Administrator Anoleis for clearance to leave this port," Gianna told him.

"I understand. Can we go in now?"

"Of course. If you need anything, I'll be in the Administrator's office," Gianna said.

"She is here. I can't believe it," Liara murmured. She looked up at Cade. "I imagine you want to talk to me, Shepard. About my mother."

"I trust you, Liara," Cade answered.

"You know what they say, 'blood is thicker than water,'" Allegra said, crossing her arms over her chest.

Liara turned to face Allegra. "I do not agree with my mother's actions," she said evenly. "I believe she must be stopped. Perhaps I can persuade her to leave peacefully. But, if you would rather I stay on the Normandy, I will."

Allegra seemed a little taken aback by Liara's willingness to compromise. "It's up to Cade whether you stay on the ship or not," she finally said. "And if he wants to take you to face Benezia, then I will accept that."

Cade was surprised by Allegra's moment of maturity. He smiled happily at her. "Let's get going," he said, ushering everyone over to the elevator. They all piled on; it was a little cramped, especially with Wrex along, but no one complained.

When the elevator arrived on the main level of Port Hanshan, Cade grouped them all together to discuss his plans. "Allegra, I would like you to take Williams, Wrex, and Garrus to the shop to get more supplies and sell the things we won't need. Liara, Alenko, and Tali will come with me to talk to Anoleis."

Allegra simply nodded and started walking towards the shop. Ashley, Wrex, and Garrus hurried to catch up to her.

Cade turned to his remaining team. "Let's just have me do the talking," he suggested.

"Aye, aye, sir," Kaidan replied, sneaking a glance to Allegra's retreating form.

Cade eyed Kaidan curiously for a moment, but kept his mouth shut. It seemed his Lieutenant had a bit of a _thing_ for Allegra. He wouldn't say anything; Alenko would find out soon enough that Allegra only paid attention to one thing, and it wasn't romance.

Clearing these thoughts from his head, Cade headed across the lobby to Anoleis' office. As she'd said, Gianna was in the outer office, sitting behind a large desk. She smiled at Cade as he walked up to her. "Can I help you, Commander?" she asked.

"I'd like to speak to Anoleis," Cade announced.

"One moment please," Gianna replied. She hit a button on the comm system. "Mr. Anoleis?"

"Yes, what? What?" came the hurried reply.

"Commander Shepard is asking to see you sir."

"Right, fine, come in."

Gianna smiled up at Cade. "Right through the door, Commander."

Cade nodded his thanks, then led Kaidan, Liara, and Tali into Anoleis' office.

Administrator Anoleis was sitting behind his desk, glancing quickly back and forth between a row of monitors. He barely looked up as Cade walked into the office. "You will excuse me if I don't stand up. I don't have the time to entertain guests," Anoleis snapped.

"I'll try not to take up too much of your time," Cade replied carefully. "I'm here on Spectre business."

Anoleis sighed. "This meeting is just a courtesy. I will only cooperate as required by the Executive Board. Businesses come to Noveria to avoid the second-guessing of galactic law."

"I'm conducting an investigation," Cade explained. "It's a matter of galactic security."

"Isn't everything?" Anoleis replied dryly. "I will not allow you to harass our clients for your investigation. This world is private property."

"I'm not here to investigate your tenants."

"Nevertheless, it is my duty to keep you away from them. Spectres are not encumbered by a need for due process."

"All I need is clearance to get to Peak 15."

"I'm afraid I can't do that for you, Commander. Peak 15 is a private facility. Even so, there is a terrible blizzard in the area. All shuttles are grounded, and surface access has been cut off. The roads are not suitable for travel."

"There must be someone else around here who could help us," Kaidan muttered softly to Cade.

Cade nodded once in agreement. "Thank you for your time, Administrator. I'll be leaving now," Cade said to Anoleis as he turned to leave.

"Good, I received a dozen urgent messages while you dithered about," Anoleis grumbled, shooing them from his office.

Gianna waved Cade over to her desk as he entered the outer office. "The administrator isn't the only one with a pass to leave Hanshan," she began in a low voice. "Talk to Lorik Qui'in. You should be able to find him in the hotel bar. I can't say more. Not within earshot of Anoleis."

"Thank you, Gianna," Cade said gratefully.

He headed off towards the lobby where he had parted ways with Allegra. To his surprise, Allegra was already waiting for him, sitting on some benches with the others.

"How'd it go?" she asked once he was close enough.

"Anoleis was no help," Cade replied. "Gianna told us about another option though. Anything good at the store?"

Allegra beamed. "You'd be so proud of me, Cade. The shopkeeper wanted me to smuggle some weapons into the port for him since I'm with you and we're allowed _our _weapons. But I told him no because it was illegal."

"And you threatened to turn him in for it, too," Ashley laughed. "He gave us the biggest discount after that just so we'd keep our mouths shut!"

Cade smiled. "Nicely done."

"So where to now, oh fearless leader?" Ashley asked.

"We need to go to the hotel bar to find someone named Lorik Qui'in," Cade replied. "Supposedly he can help us get to Peak 15. Allegra, why don't you come with me? Everyone else, just wait here while we talk to Qui'in."

The two Shepards headed off for the hotel bar silently. As they exited the elevator, Allegra glanced around, asking, "So which one is Qui'in?"

"My guess? The turian nursing that drink over there," Cade replied, pointing over to the corner.

Allegra followed his gaze. "One way to find out!" she said brightly, walking over to the turian. She approached him, all business. "Are you Lorik Qui'in? We were told you could help us."

The turian glanced over Allegra, then Cade curiously. He nodded once. "You are the Spectre that just arrived, are you not?" he directed at Cade. "What can an old turian like me possibly help you with?"

"We're trying to find a way into the garage," Cade answered.

Qui'in nodded in understanding. "You need a pass," he stated. "I'm the manager of the local Synthetic Insights office. For the moment at least. Mr. Anoleis closed my office. He claims to be investigating claims of my corruption. The administrator is an interesting man. He has become quite wealthy since he took direct control of rents."

"I sense a connection there," Allegra spoke up.

"Indeed," Qui'in agreed. "I acquired evidence of Anoleis' actions. His hired cronies are currently ransacking my office trying to find it." He looked them over calculatingly. "If you can recover the evidence from my office, I will give you my garage pass."

"I take it you have a plan?" Cade questioned.

"I do," Qui'in replied. "However, I should tell you that violence against Anoleis' thugs may be necessary. He has members of Hanshan's security team searching my office. He's been paying them under the table. Ms. Matsuo is unaware of their outside employment."

"I'm assuming the security chief wouldn't be too thrilled about them taking outside jobs?" Allegra guessed.

"I don't like the idea of fighting the law around here," Cade said.

"If they're being paid under the table that makes them mercenaries," Allegra pointed out. "We can kill mercenaries."

"If it come to that. . . yes," Cade replied slowly.

"The evidence is on my computer," Qui'in said. "This OSD contains an encryption key to access it." He slid the disk across the table to Cade. "Oh, and do try to keep blood off the carpets, would you?"

"Sure thing," Allegra replied as Cade picked up the disk. "Should we take some more of our team with us?" Allegra asked Cade as they started walking off.

"You don't think we can handle a couple of security officers?" Cade asked her, grinning.

Allegra laughed heartily. "You're right. We _are_ a perfect team after all."

The pair headed towards the Synthetic Insights office area. They used Qui'ins' pass to access the elevator, and walked right into a pair of Hanshan's security officers.

"Freeze!" one of the officers immediately commanded as the other drew his weapon on Cade and Allegra. "Hanshan security. This office is sealed."

"Lorik Qui'in gave us a pass in," Cade explained.

"Qui'in?" the officer questioned. "Do you work for him? He is under investigation."

"Does Captain Matsuo know you're here?" Allegra asked the officers.

"Hey, I'm not the one who wants Qui'in," the officer replied. "I just needed some money." She paused, then said, "Look, why don't we just pretend we didn't see you and you didn't see us?"

Cade nodded in agreement and moved aside so the two officers could use the elevator to exit the office area.

"That was easy," Allegra commented.

"Don't be so sure," Cade said, looking across the room to where another officer was approaching them, his gun out.

The officer shot at them, Allegra ducking just in time. "Shit!" she cried, fumbling for her assault rifle. She quickly took aim and blasted the officer away. "Self defense!" she yelled to Cade. "Perfectly good excuse!"

"Agreed!" Cade called, ducking behind a wall as more guards showed up.

Allegra ducked behind another wall to avoid the gunfire from the officers. With a bit of quick thinking and plenty of skill, Allegra and Cade managed to take out the officers without taking any damage themselves. Satisfied enough with how things were working out, Cade led the way up to Qui'in's office, unlocking the door with his pass.

Allegra guarded the door as Cade placed the OSD into the computer's drive. The computer whirred as it downloaded the data to the disc. Once it was finished, Cade grabbed the disc and jammed it into his pocket. "Let's get out of here," he said to Allegra.

They retraced their steps out into the lobby area, where they ran headfirst into Sergeant Stirling and a group of security officers. "Oh, give me a break," Allegra muttered.

"I don't think you're supposed to be in here," Stirling greeted coldly. "Anoleis would throw you off world for what you've done here. I won't. You know what we did to cop killers on my world?"

"Make them put on frilly dresses and hold tea parties?" Allegra asked sweetly.

Stirling glared at her. Allegra remained unfazed.

"I didn't want to fight them," Cade said. "They fired first."

"Self. Defense," Allegra said, punctuating each word. "So, if you'll excuse us, we'll just be going now."

"You think I'm just going to let you walk out of here?" Stirling asked. "No way."

"If you want a fight, I'll give you one!" Allegra cried.

"You talk the talk, let's see if you can walk after I break your legs!" Stirling yelled, drawing her gun.

Cade rolled behind some cover as Allegra unleashed a wave of gunfire. She quickly took out Stirling, then, laughing, ducked behind Cade's cover.

"Oh, man, she was _so _easy!" Allegra laughed. "Couple of hits and down she went!"

"That's a little maniacal of you," Cade commented, leaning out and taking down another officer.

Allegra shrugged, then jumped up and aimed at and officer across the room.

Within minutes, the rest of the officers were defeated.

"Okay, let's really get out of here now," Cade decided.

The two of them hurried to the elevator and made their way back to the main area of Hanshan. Gianna Parasini was waiting for them just past the elevator.

"There have been reports of noise from the Synthetic Insights office," she said, eyeing Cade and Allegra. "Would you know anything about it?"

"It's probably Anoleis' thugs ripping the place apart," Allegra commented.

"Smartass, huh?" Gianna replied with a slight grin. "I can work with that. Meet me at the hotel for a drink, _before_ you talk to Qui'in." Without waiting for a response, she turned and hurried down the corridor.

Allegra turned to face Cade. "What is _that_ all about?"

"Guess we should go find out," he replied.

* * *

Allegra followed Cade to the hotel bar. There was something a little fishy about Gianna that Allegra couldn't quite put her finger on. Why did she insist they talk to her before Qui'in? It must have something to do with the evidence they had gotten from Qui'in's computer.

When they entered the bar, Allegra spotted Gianna immediately. She was standing next to a small table in one of the corners, away from the other patrons. Allegra pointed her out to Cade and they walked over to her together.

"Allow me to reintroduce myself," Gianna began as the twins stepped up to the table. "Parasini. Noveria Internal Affairs."

"Why is an Internal Affairs agent here?" Cade asked.

"The Executive Board knows about Anoleis' corruption. I've been undercover for six months."

"What do you want with us?" Allegra asked.

"I want you to convince Qui'in to testify before the Board. With his evidence, this planet could run profitably again."

"We need Qui'in's garage pass for our mission," Cade said.

"I can get you a garage pass," Gianna assured. "If you help me, I'll help you."

Cade glanced over at Allegra. She didn't even have to think about it. Anoleis was a slimy bastard and deserved to be taken down. She nodded to Cade.

"All right," Cade told Gianna. "We'll talk to Qui'in and see if we can convince him."

"Thank you," Gianna said, clearly relieved. "You know where I work. Come see me once you know if he'll play."

She stalked off and Cade turned around to locate Qui'in. He was still sitting at the table they had left him at earlier.

He glanced up at them expectantly as they approached him. "Any news?" he asked.

"We found your evidence," Cade began.

"And then an Internal Affairs agent contacted us," Allegra continued. "She wants you to testify against Anoleis."

"Now that you have my property, you want to dictate how I use it?" Qui'in replied angrily. "I have no interest in a public spectacle."

"Everyone on this station is chafing under Anoleis' extortion," Cade reasoned.

"You might end up a hero," Allegra added.

Qui'in sighed. "All right, it is obvious that I will not be able to dissuade you. I will testify. Make arrangements with your contact. I will wait here."

Allegra pulled Cade away from Qui'in as the turian grumbled to himself. "Everyone wants to be a hero, I guess," she said.

She and Cade made their way back to Anoleis' office to speak with Gianna. She was very pleased they had been able to convince Qui'in to testify. So pleased, in fact, that she immediately arrested Anoleis, who went out struggling and screaming most unbecomingly.

Gianna did give them a garage pass before taking Anoleis away, so, feeling very successful, Cade and Allegra rounded up the rest of their team and herded them back on board the Normandy. Cade ordered them all to the comm room so they could discuss what to do now that they would actually be able to get to Peak 15. Allegra listened to him plan the mission, anxious to know who he was taking with him.

"I don't know what will be waiting for us at Peak15," he was saying. "We'll have to be prepared for anything." He looked over the assembled group, gauging them. Allegra didn't like how he wasn't exactly looking in her direction. "Liara, Tali," he finally said. "You'll be coming with me. Everyone else will remain here with Allegra in charge."

Allegra made a loud noise of protest. "Cade, you can't be serious!" she cried. "I'm coming with you!"

"No, you're not," he replied evenly. He looked at Tali and Liara. "Go gather your equipment and meet me by the airlock. Everyone else, dismissed."

As everyone else stood, Allegra dragged Cade off to the corner to get some privacy. "There is no way I am letting you take T'Soni with you," she hissed at him.

"Allegra, I know you don't trust her, but we'll be dealing with her mother," Cade replied. "Liara knows Benezia better than anybody. With any luck, she'll be able to convince her to leave Saren. But, if it comes down to it, I _will_ kill her. Don't you think Liara at least deserves the chance to say goodbye to her mother?"

"And what if she turns on you? What if you have to fight Benezia _and_ T'Soni?"

"You don't think I can handle a couple of biotics?" Cade chuckled.

"I'd feel better if I was coming with you," Allegra grumbled unhappily.

"I know, but I need you to stay here with everyone else. They need a commander too. And . . . _if_ something should happen to me . . . you need to be safe so you can take over the mission."

"Don't talk like that!" Allegra cried. "Nothing could kill you; you're invincible!"

"I wish that were true," Cade sighed. "Allegra, please, just stay on Port Hanshan and protect the ship. I'll be fine."

"All right, fine," Allegra finally relented. "But I won't like it."

"I know you won't. Just try to keep yourself distracted so you don't worry about me too much," he grinned.

Allegra punched him in the shoulder. "Shut up," she grumbled. "But, seriously, be careful. You've never gone up against an asari matriarch before. Don't do anything stupid."

"I promise you, I won't."

Cade smiled one last time at her, then hurried to the airlock where Liara and Tali waited for him. Allegra watched them exit the Normandy, trying to ignore the feeling of dread residing in her stomach.


	9. The Rachni Adventure

Cade led Tali and Liara through Port Hanshan towards the garage. He saw Liara glance out of the windows, an apprehensive look on her face. Cade knew what she was thinking. The blizzard was still going strong and they had to get across the mountains in it. He would never show it, but Cade was very uneasy over the whole situation. He wasn't the best driver in the group; he drove too fast and usually ended up stuck at a crazy angle, or hitting bumps too hard and damaging the Mako. Maybe he should have brought Allegra. She had a real knack for handling vehicles.

Finally arriving at the door to the garage, Cade showed the guard stationed there his pass, then walked on through. He stopped almost immediately. Something just didn't seem quite right. . .

Gunfire suddenly just missed his head, bouncing off his shields. He brought up his gun, searching for the source of the fire.

"Geth!" Tali cried, realizing what they were up against.

As they dived for cover, Cade could make out two geth destroyers towards the back of the garage, a shock trooper up on a ledge to the left, and a hopper on the ceiling above them.

Liara sent a surge of biotics towards the geth on the ledge as Tali took down the hopper. Cade checked the position of the destroyers, then, with a deep breath, he lunged from cover, running full out towards the geth, dodging their gunfire. He took the first one down as he ran towards them. The second geth's shots ripped through his shields as he hurried for cover. He stayed hidden for a few moments, long enough to let his shields build up power. Then he pulled out his shotgun and broke cover, finishing off the destroyer with a few well aimed shots to the head.

Cade fell back against the wall, breathing heavily. His chest burned with each breath he took. Tali and Liara approached him as he was fumbling the medigel out of his armor.

"Oh, Commander!" Liara gasped as she noticed he had been hit.

"Here, Shepard, let me," Tali ordered, nimbly grabbing the medigel from Cade's hands and applying it to his wounds.

Cade sighed with relief as the medigel soothed the burn. Soon he felt as good as new. Luckily, he had just been grazed and hadn't ended up with any serious injuries. Allegra would have killed him if he had gotten hurt.

"What did you do here, Commander?" a voice shouted.

Cade, Liara, and Tali looked towards the garage's entrance. Captain Matsuo stood there, shocked at the scene laid out before her.

"The geth ambushed us," Cade explained, standing upright. "We fought back. That's it."

"Geth?" Matsuo repeated. "You expect me to. . . Where did they come from?"

"Benezia must have had them in those shipping containers she arrived with," Tali suggested.

"I don't believe that," Matsuo insisted. "We did thorough scans of those. There were no power sources, no element zero masses. If Benezia's containers were packed with those things, there are many more out there."

"We've fought geth before," Cade said. "We'll take care of them for you."

"I appreciate that. My people are good, but few of them have combat experience." Matsuo heaved a heavy sigh. "I must report to the Executive Board. If word gets out about loose geth there may be an investor panic." With that, Matsuo took her leave, leaving two guards stationed at the door.

Cade led Tali and Liara to a Mako parked near one of the garage's outer doors. They all climbed aboard and braced themselves for the blizzard and Peak 15. With the newly added threat of geth, they had a lot to be worried about.

* * *

Allegra paced restlessly through Cade's room. She hoped he was all right. Not only did he have to fight his way through a blizzard across a mountain, but he was going to be facing the very powerful Benezia. Sure, he had a biotic of his own on his team, but it was _Liara_. They still didn't know if they could trust her. Besides, they would be fighting her _mother_. What if Liara refused to help Cade and Tali? What if she sided with Benezia?

The knock on the door startled Allegra. She hurried to unlock it, thinking maybe someone had heard from Cade, or maybe it was Cade himself!

Kaidan stood on the other side of the door. He visibly relaxed when he saw her. "I've been looking for you everywhere," he said. "I was beginning to think you had run off to Peak 15 by yourself. Cade would've murdered me. I'm supposed to be keeping an eye on you."

"What?" Allegra questioned. "He asked you to babysit me?"

"He didn't want you getting into any trouble. . ." Kaidan replied.

Allegra rolled her eyes as she moved aside so Kaidan could enter the room. The door shut behind him, leaving them very much alone.

"He should have taken me along," Allegra said. "How can I protect him if I'm not with him?"

"It's not your job to protect him."

"He's my brother, Kaidan. I can't just sit back and let him do all the dangerous stuff. And what if T'Soni turns on him? He only has Tali with him. The two of them couldn't take on two biotics plus whatever other cronies Benezia has with her."

"I don't think Liara will turn on him," Kaidan protested. "She's not like that."

"Oh? And how is it you know her so well?" Allegra asked, folding her arms across her chest.

Kaidan looked over at her amusedly. "Are you jealous?" he asked incredulously.

"What? No!" Allegra cried, fervently hoping she wouldn't blush.

"You sound jealous."

"Why would I be jealous? You said yourself you like the adventurous type. Plus Joker told me that you-" She cut herself off just in time. No need for Kaidan to be aware that Allegra knew he liked her.

Kaidan frowned. "What did Joker tell you?"

"Nothing. Just forget I said anything."

"Allegra, I want to know."

Damn, he just had to use her first name. Did he know how good her name sounded on his lips?

"He told me you're hopelessly infatuated with me," Allegra heard herself say.

Kaidan's cheeks slowly turned red. He was so cute when he was embarrassed.

"Don't be embarrassed," Allegra said, stepping towards him. "I think it's sweet."

"Sweet?" he scoffed. "Great. A girl like you doesn't want sweet. You want someone big and strong and heroic."

"You are big and strong _and_ heroic," Allegra replied, grinning. "And also a million other things which I could take the time to list, but I won't because I just want to do this."

And she reached up to pull his head down, kissing him firmly on the lips.

Kaidan responded quickly, wrapping his strong arms around her waist and pulling her more tightly against him. They attacked each other's lips with a passion brought on by the last few weeks of wanting each other. Allegra ran her hands through his hair, massaging his scalp as their tongues wrestled. Kaidan dropped a hand to her butt, gently squeezing as he placed fiery kisses down her throat. Allegra rubbed against his hard body, longing for more.

It was that realization that made her push away from him. Kaidan stared down at her, breathing heavily, fully aroused, and thoroughly confused.

"I can't do this," Allegra muttered. "Fuck, Kaidan, I'm your superior! There are rules against this! We could be kicked out of the Alliance."

"You're right," he sighed, scrubbing a hand through his hair. "We've devoted our lives to the Alliance. We can't risk it."

"I'm sorry," she said miserably. "I _really_ want to, but. . ."

"We can't," he finished for her.

"God damn fucking protocol," she cursed. "You should probably get back to work," she muttered.

Kaidan nodded. He paused by the doorway. "Cade will be fine, Legs. Just try to relax for once." He gave her a brief smile, then headed to his usual workplace.

Allegra stared after him, thinking about the nickname he had just used for her. Legs. She kind of liked it.

Now if only she actually _could_ relax.

* * *

Ashley headed towards the mess. She was in a sour mood ever since Cade hadn't deemed her worthy enough to join him on Peak 15. It didn't make any sense. . . _Liara_ got to go but Ashley had to stay and guard the Normandy. Even Tali got to go with Cade, but _Ashley_ wasn't allowed.

Entering the mess, she spied Allegra sitting at the table. The glare on the commander's face was an effective shield between her and the other crew members. Ashley wasn't affected. She sat down next to Allegra, uttering a gloomy, "Hey, Commander."

Allegra looked over at her. "I would have taken you," she said.

"What?" Ashley asked in surprise.

"You know, if I was Cade. Or if I was allowed to lead," she added. "I would have taken you because you know how to fight and you're good at it. And I would have taken me because, well, it's _me_."

"So why didn't Cade take us?" Ashley wondered.

"Because he's a blind asshole?" Allegra replied.

Ashley grinned.

"I can't believe he took T'Soni."

Ashley nodded furiously. "Right? I don't trust her."

"Me neither. If she has to choose between her mother and us. . . well, who would _you _pick?"

"Exactly."

"And then he's like, '_If I have to kill Benezia, I think Liara would like to say goodbye_,'" Allegra continued, mimicking Cade. "Okay, if she's telling the truth about not speaking to her mother in years, then what makes him think she'll want to say goodbye? Maybe she's already said her goodbyes."

"Sounds like he's making excuses."

Allegra growled in frustration. "Maybe we should change subjects. I'm getting very pissed off."

"You could tell me what's going on between you and LT," Ashley suggested, trying to look innocent.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Allegra replied, narrowing her eyes.

"Come on, Commander," Ashley protested. "I've seen you two looking at each other. He's pretty cute; I don't blame you for being interested."

"Even if I was 'interested', I can't do anything. There are rules, you know."

"You're kidding me," Ashley laughed. "Seriously? The Butcher of Torfan is telling me she won't do something because of the rules? I thought you were supposed to be the _fuck 'em_ type."

Allegra frowned at that. "I'm not a horrible person," she said softly.

"I didn't say you were," Ashley insisted. "I always just figured you looked at rules as things that were meant to be broken. Especially for something simple like fraternizing."

Allegra was silent for a minute, then she looked over at Ashley very seriously. "If I tell you something, will you keep it a secret?"

"Of course," Ashley replied. She had never been one to blab.

"I might be using the fraternizing rule as an excuse to deter Kaidan."

"What? Why?"

"I've never had such a nice guy like me before. I tend to attract the rogue, devil-may-care attitude types. I don't know how to act around Kaidan. I don't want to hurt him."

"How do you usually treat guys who like you?"

"Fuck them, then find an excuse to have to leave right away. One reason I don't date military types; they'll know when I'm bullshitting missions."

"Well, obviously, if you sleep with LT you're not going to be able to escape. We're all stuck on this ship together," Ashley commented. "Do you want my advice?"

"Sure."

"Be the Allegra Shepard you're rumored to be. Fuck the rules and go after what you want. We're on an incredibly dangerous mission; you never know what's around the next corner. This could all be over tomorrow and you don't want to look back and have regrets. Besides, Alenko's a big boy; he can handle himself."

Allegra smiled wryly at Ashley. "Maybe you should listen to your own advice, Chief. Cade will never know you like him if you don't tell him."

Ashley became uncomfortably aware that she was blushing. "It's not the same thing. Cade is just an innocent crush. You and Kaidan have the potential to be something real."

"Whatever you say, Ash."

The two women lapsed into silence. Ashley tried to imagine herself going up to Cade and announcing that she wanted to do the nasty with him. She was sure he'd laugh her off, thinking she was joking. He would never go for a girl like Ashley. Especially not when there was someone like Liara around.

Allegra slammed her hand down on the table, startling Ashley. "Okay, grab your armor and weapons. We're going," she decided.

"Going where?" Ashley asked.

"To help Cade. He can't do this mission alone."

Ashley jumped up. "Yes, ma'am!" she said excitedly. "This is a great idea."

The two of them made their way to their lockers on the lower deck. They quickly suited up and grabbed their weapons, then quietly made their way through the Normandy to the airlock. They had decided to try to avoid as many of the crew as they could so no one would try to stop them. Also, Allegra was sure Cade would be angry that she hadn't followed his orders and she didn't want the crew to be punished unnecessarily.

Finally they were past the airlock and running towards the entrance to the port.

"Commander," Ashley began as they slowed to a walk at the doors, "won't we need a pass to get into the garage?"

"Never fear, Ash," Allegra replied with a devious grin. "I have a plan. But we'll need to make a quick stop."

When they reached the main level of the port, Allegra led them towards the hotel's bar.

"You need a drink to bolster your courage?" Ashley asked.

Allegra laughed. Then she spotted her target. "Lorik," she greeted, sidling up to the turian, glad he was still out getting drunk. "How's my old friend doing?"

Lorik Qui'in looked the two of them over warily. "Can I help you with something, Shepard?"

"Why Lorik, I can't believe you don't remember. We had a deal," Allegra stated casually.

He looked back at her blankly.

"I got you that information from your offices. You owe me a garage pass."

"Yes, but you gave the date to an internal affairs agent. I don't owe you anything."

"You never specified you had to keep the data. Just that we get it."

Lorik didn't look convinced.

"Look, Qui'in, I killed all those guards to get that data. Do you really think I'd hesitate before killing you?"

"But the trial-"

"Like I care what happens to Anoleis," Allegra interrupted. "I'll be long gone from Noveria shortly."

Lorik grumbled something under his breath, then dug his pass from his pocket. He tossed it to Allegra. "Now leave me alone."

"Sure thing."

Ashley and Allegra hurried from the bar. Ashley was amused by the way Allegra had handled the situation. She was still giggling when they reached the garage and Allegra showed their pass to the guards stationed there.

The first guard seemed wary to let them through. The second guard came over to see what the holdup was.

"She's with the Spectre," the second guard said, recognizing Allegra. "They can handle themselves."

"Handle ourselves against what?" Allegra asked.

"Commander Shepard was ambushed by geth in the garage," the first guard explained.

"He took care of them easily," the second guard assured at the looks of shock and horror that appeared on the women's faces. "But there's most likely more geth on Peak 15, if Matriarch Benezia is in fact the one that brought them."

"It's a good thing we decided to follow him," Ashley whispered to Allegra.

Allegra nodded. "Is there a Mako we can use to get out to Peak 15?" she asked the guards.

They pointed out which vehicle she could use. Allegra hopped into the driver's seat and Ashley took the seat next to her. One of the guards opened the garage door for them, and Allegra drove slowly out onto the road.

The blizzard had died down quite a bit, even though the wind was still blowing the snow around, limiting visibility. Allegra was glad she was an experienced driver; being afraid you might actually drive off the side of a cliff might make you actually drive off the side of a cliff.

They passed through the mountains easily. Along the way they saw evidence of a firefight between (now destroyed) geth and Cade's team. The more geth they saw, the more worried they became. Finally they arrived at Peak 15's garage. Cade's Mako was parked outside near a Grizzly that was on fire.

"Well, isn't that a comforting sight," Ashley commented.

Allegra led the way into the garage, where they came face to face with more destroyed geth, and even some krogan.

"Geez, they even had Juggernauts with them," Ashley muttered, kicking one of the geth.

They continued through the building, a lot of which was covered in snow. In what must have been a cafeteria, they found the bodies of a much more organic species.

"What the hell is this?" Ashley asked, peering down at one.

"It looks like a rachni," Allegra replied. "But that's crazy; the rachni have been extinct for centuries."

"Yeah, well, it was also strange that the geth traveled beyond the Veil," Ashley put in.

"Good point."

Allegra led her further into the building. Eventually they reached the tram that would take them to Rift station. Ashley followed Allegra onto the tram, praying that Cade was all right, that the sick feeling in the pit of her stomach was just her imagination.

* * *

As the tram pulled up to Rift station, Allegra tried to force her mind off of the possibility of there being rachni still alive. Was it a natural occurrence, or did the scientists here have something to do with it? And if so, why would they want to create more rachni?

After they had taken an elevator up a level, they found themselves looking at the wrong end of a bunch of guns. Allegra and Ashley held their hands up in surrender.

"Stand down," the man in charge said. "Are you with that other guy who came through here? Shepard?"

"Yes," Allegra replied. "Do you know where he is?"

"He went to find that asari Matriarch down in the maintenance area," the captain explained. "I knew he was going to need more people with him."

"How do I get down there?" Allegra asked.

The captain gave her directions then sent them on their way.

"I guess Cade has done all the hard work already," Ashley said as they scurried away.

"Don't be too sure about that," Allegra commented.

The two women made quick work getting to the maintenance area. They avoided the other inhabitants of the station as much as they could, not wanting to be stopped unnecessarily. Allegra grew increasingly more worried the further they traveled.

They heard the gunfire before they reached the secure lab. Ashley shot Allegra a look as they cautiously approached the door.

"We don't know what we'll find," Allegra warned. "T'Soni may or may not have turned. If it shoots you or Cade, shoot back."

"Aye, aye," Ashley agreed.

They opened the door and slipped inside. In the utter chaos they found themselves in, no one noticed them.

Allegra quickly assessed the situation. Cade, Tali, and Liara were pinned down in the far corner. It looked as though Liara was still on their side. Benezia stood on a platform in the middle of the room, a massive biotic shield protecting her. A couple krogan mercenaries and some asari commandos prowled the room, shooting continuously at Cade's team.

Allegra and Ashley took cover behind some crates. "Don't let them see you," Allegra hissed. "Surprise is our biggest advantage."

Ashley nodded, quickly aimed at the nearby krogan, then ducked back behind cover before anyone was the wiser.

Allegra noticed one of the asari commandos approaching Cade's cover. She fired a quick spurt from her assault rifle and the asari went down. Together, the two women took down more of the commandos. Cade and his team, now that half of their attackers were dead, were able to finally get their own shots off and quickly finished the rest. Then they focused their fire on Benezia, weakening her shields.

One well-aimed shot from Allegra later, Benezia's shields were down and, injured, the Matriarch fell to the floor.

"Allegra?" Cade said in surprise as Allegra and Ashley emerged from cover. "What are you doing here?"

"Saving your ass apparently," she replied.

"I have to admit you have great timing," Cade said. "I. . . I should be angry at you for disobeying my orders, but. . . if you hadn't come. . ."

"I know," she said softly.

"Thank you."

"This is not over!" Benezia shouted from the platform. Allegra, Cade, Ashley, Tali, and Liara hurried over. Benezia was pushing herself up from the ground. "Saren is unstoppable," the Matriarch continued. "My mind is filled with his light. Everything is clear."

"I expected better from asari commandos," Allegra called.

Benezia turned to her. "I will not betray him. You will. . . you. . ." She stumbled slightly and clutched her head. With a loud groan, she straightened again, looking earnestly at Cade and Allegra. "You must listen. Saren still whispers in my mind. I can fight his compulsions. Briefly. But the indoctrination is strong."

Cade and Allegra looked at each other in confusion.

"Why are you able to break free of his control now?" Cade asked.

"I sealed a part of my mind away from the indoctrination. Saving it for a moment when I could help destroy him. It will not last long."

"You chose to join with Saren," Allegra said to Benezia. "You just got more than you bargained for."

"It is a terror to be trapped in your mind," Benezia replied. "To beat upon the glass as your hands torture and murder. I was powerless; nothing but a tool for Saren. He sent me here to find the location of the Mu Relay. Its position was lost thousands of years ago."

"How does something that big go missing?" Allegra wondered.

"Four thousand years ago, a star nearby went supernova. The shockwave propelled the relay out of its system, but did not damage it. Its precise vector and speed are impossible to determine. As millennia passed, the nebula created by the nova enveloped the relay. It is difficult to find any cold object in interstellar space. Particularly something swathed in hot dust and radiation."

"Lovely," Allegra muttered.

"Can I assume you found the coordinates?" Cade asked.

"Two thousand years ago, the rachni inhabited that region of our galaxy. They discovered the relay. The rachni can share memories across generations. Queens inherit the knowledge of their mothers. I took the location of the relay from the queen's mind. I was not gentle."

"You have to give us the location," Cade insisted.

"I transcribed the date to an OSD. Take it. Please," Benezia said, walking up to Cade and handing him the disc.

"Knowing the relay's location isn't enough. We need to know where to go from there," Tali pointed out.

"Saren wouldn't tell me his destination," Benezia continued. "But you must find out quickly. I transmitted the coordinates to him before you arrived."

"Again: lovely," Allegra scoffed.

"You have to stop. . . me," Benezia struggled to say. "I can't. . . his teeth are at my ear, fingers on my spine. You should. . . you should. . ." She retreated from them, shaking her head. Then, suddenly, with a surge of biotic energy, Benezia looked up and shouted, "Die!"

"Damn it," Allegra groaned as they all retreated to cover. "So much for this being easy."

Cade chuckled darkly. "It's never easy for us," he replied.

"Can we do anything about that damn biotic shield?" Allegra yelled as she fired at Benezia.

"We just have to weaken it," Cade called back.

"Anyone got a grenade?" Allegra asked, ducking back behind a crate.

Liara looked over at her sharply. "She is my mother," she hissed.

"And she's trying to kill us," Allegra hissed back.

"I've got it," Ashley called, throwing a grenade onto the platform. "Hit the deck!"

Everyone hunkered down behind their cover as the grenade exploded. Benezia uttered a horrifying scream and Cade announced her shields were down. Allegra nodded to Ashley and Tali, and, together, the three of them emerged from cover, firing at Benezia. They aimed for her legs, easily taking her down now that she was too weak for biotics.

As Benezia slumped once more to the ground, Cade and Liara joined them on the platform.

"I cannot go on. You will have to stop him," Benezia groaned.

"First you turn on the Council, now on Saren. You're not loyal to anything, are you?" Allegra scoffed.

"I suppose that is how history will know me." Benezia clutched her side and shuddered.

"Mother!" Liara gasped.

"Good night, Little Wing. I will see you again with the dawn." Benezia started murmuring something about there being no light as her eyes rolled back into her head.

Liara let out a strangled sob and buried herself into Cade's arms. Cade glanced around at the other women as he patted Liara awkwardly on the back.

Allegra looked away from them, her eyes coming to rest on what was being kept inside the chamber next to the platform. "What the hell is that?" she blurted.

"It is the rachni queen," Tali told her as Allegra stepped closer to the glass.

"Frickin' huge," Allegra muttered, leaning closer.

The rachni queen suddenly lunged at Allegra, its grotesque mouth attaching to the glass. Allegra stumbled back in shock, running straight into one of the dead asari commandos who was standing just behind her.

"Fuck!" Allegra gasped, immediately bringing up her gun. She saw the rest of the team do the same, even Liara, though her pistol was shaking in her hands.

The dead commando walked jerkily over to where the rachni queen still held onto the glass, then turned to face the group. "This one serves as our voice," she began haltingly. "We cannot sing. Not in these low spaces. Your musics are colorless."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Allegra said to the commando. "We filled you with enough plasma to pop a tank. How are you still alive?"

"This vessel is at the edge. Yet she struggles. You cannot see her magnificence. We are breathing the embers. We are the mother. We sing for those left behind. The children you thought silenced. We are rachni."

"Is anyone else understanding this?" Allegra asked to the group assembled behind her.

Cade stepped up next to her, his attention divided between the rachni queen and the asari commando. "The queen is talking through the asari," he said in awe. "Did you order your people to kill the science team?" he asked.

"No," the rachni replied. "We were locked away here. The children are beyond our songs. They have been lost to silence. The children we birthed were stolen from us before they could learn to sing. They are lost to silence. End their suffering. They cannot be saved. They will only cause harm as they are."

"All right," Cade agreed. "I don't think they'll give me a choice anyway."

"Before you deal with our children, we stand before you," the rachni continued. "What will you sing? Will you release us? Are we to fade away once more?"

"Commander," Ashley spoke up, "I don't trust this thing. We know its kind are killers. The tank is rigged with acid. I recommend using it."

Liara shook her head. "They made a mistake. They let the krogan go too far. This is a chance for us to atone. She had done nothing to us."

Cade turned to Tali and Allegra.

"They wouldn't have installed the acid tanks if they weren't afraid of the consequences of her getting loose," Tali said.

"I agree with Ash and Tali," Allegra said. "The rachni are aggressive; they once threatened every species in Citadel space. Why should we let even one loose?"

"Your companions hear the truth," the rachni queen said. "You have the power to free us, or return our people to the silence of memory.

"If I let you live, would you attack other races again?" Cade asked.

"No! We. . . I do not know what happened in the war. We only heard discordance, songs the color of oily shadows. We would seek a hidden place to teach our children harmony. If they understand, perhaps we would return."

Allegra looked at Cade. "Don't even think about it," she warned. "If you let that thing go, you could be signing a death warrant for every living thing in the galaxy."

"What if she's telling the truth?" Cade asked.

"Can we afford to take that chance?" Tali asked.

Cade rubbed the spot of skin between his eyes in irritation. "Make your peace with the galaxy," he said after a moment. "The rachni are a dead race."

"No!" Liara cried. "Stop feeling and think! Even if you disagree with asari morals, you must see she could be an ally!"

"Is our kind so frightening?" the rachni asked. "You would seek our silence if you cannot muffle our songs? If you cannot have us as your obedient claws?"

"This time stay dead!" Allegra growled.

"We will not embrace the great silence!"

The asari commando charged to the console next to the tank, about to hit the release mechanism. With a loud shout, Allegra leaped over and shoved the commando roughly out of the way. She quickly accessed the terminal, opening the tanks of acid, allowing it to spill into the container, killing the rachni queen.

An uncomfortable silence descended upon the group. Cade led them out of the lab, back into the maintenance area. They took the nearby elevator, which led them to the hot labs. They arrived into a nearly completely empty room. Only one man, seated in a chair in the middle of the room, greeted them.

"Are you here to secure the situation?" the man asked in a heavy accent as they approached him.

"If by 'secure' you mean 'shoot every monster we see,' sure," Allegra quipped.

"I am certain you are having strong feelings," the scientist replied. "But what has happened here, it is our fault. You understand?"

"You let these things out?" Cade questioned.

"I am only following the orders! Binary Helix found an egg. It was on a derelict ship, thousands of years drifting. This was rachni ship. Inside they find many eggs in cryogenic suspension."

"A thousand-year-old egg hatched?" Allegra said in disbelief.

"Yes," the scientist said. "Very tough, to be so long frozen. That it survived the centuries – this is miraculous."

"I'm not sure I would qualify this as a miracle," Ashley said.

Allegra nodded her agreement.

The scientist told them about Binary Helix's plans to create a rachni army until they discovered the frozen egg was a rachni queen. Apparently the queen laid eggs and the scientists thought that by separating them from the queen they would be able to raise the babies to be obedient. Of course, that turned out to be the exact opposite of what they should have done, and the baby rachni grew up to be uncontrollable. The scientist told them the rachni needed to be neutralized with a neutron purge; it was the only way.

"How do we activate the neutron purge?" Cade asked.

"Arming controls are nearby," the scientist said. "All you do is insert the key. Then I will give Mira destruct code-"

The scientist was cut off as a huge rachni arm suddenly burst through the middle of his chest. The group collectively jumped backwards as a giant rachni appeared behind the scientist. They all immediately brought up their guns and started firing at the rachni, jumping away from its flailing arms.

After a few tense minutes, the rachni finally collapse on the ground.

"We need to get the scientist's destruct code," Tali announced.

Allegra nodded and hurried to the scientist's body. She searched his pockets, successfully finding the codes. Then they found a Mira terminal in the next room. Allegra inserted the destruct code and Mira began the sequence for the neutron purge, which left them 120 seconds to escape the station.

They all immediately turned and hightailed it out of the room. They hadn't gone far before they ran across more rachni.

"We don't have time for this!" Ashley roared, blasting the head off one of the rachni.

"Fight through them!" Cade ordered, lunging into the fray, avoiding claws and gunfire.

The group followed his lead, making a messy exit. As they reached the elevator, Liara cried, "I hope everyone else got out all right!"

"Well we don't have time to go search for them, do we?" Ashley replied, shoving Liara into the elevator.

They didn't breathe until they had all made it to the tram station.

"Let's get the hell out of here," Cade suggested.


	10. Kahoku, Nassana and Conrad  Oh My!

The group headed straight for the Normandy once they got back to Port Hanshan. Kaidan was waiting for them by the airlock, looking as though he expected Cade to reprimand him for allowing Allegra to sneak off the ship.

"Commander, I'm sorry," he began, avoiding Allegra's gaze.

"Alenko, it's fine," Cade interrupted the lieutenant. "When my sister is determined to do something, nothing will stop her. I should have remembered that. Besides, she saved our asses."

Kaidan's eyes finally flicked over to Allegra's; she grinned widely at him.

"Debriefing in twenty minutes," Cade announced. "Spread the word. Joker," he called to the pilot. "Get us out of here. Keep us in orbit until I figure out our next destination."

"Aye, aye, Commander," Joker replied happily.

Allegra watched her brother disappear towards the comm room, Tali close behind him. She turned back to Kaidan, but he was looking Liara over closely.

"Is everything all right?" he asked the asari gently.

Liara just stared at the ground, an aura of sadness permeating the air around her.

"Uh, her mother," Ashley began, shifting her weight awkwardly. "We had to. . ."

"Oh," Kaidan said, understanding, his eyes going wide.

"It has not been easy," Liara finally whispered.

"We had to fight our way out of there immediately afterwards," Allegra supplied. "There wasn't any time for much of a goodbye."

Liara suddenly excused herself and walked briskly towards the elevator.

"I have to say, I'm surprised she didn't turn on us," Ashley commented.

Kaidan looked like he wanted to say something, so Allegra hurriedly spoke up. "I'm ready to get out of this armor. I think there's time before debrief, don't you, Ash?"

"What? Oh yeah."

"See you soon, Alenko," Allegra called over her shoulder as she and Ashley headed towards their lockers.

Fifteen minutes later, the girls made their way towards the comm room with Wrex and Garrus. Kaidan, Liara and Tali were already seated, watching Cade pace.

"So, Noveria," Cade began once everyone was seated.

"What a shit storm," Allegra commented as Ashley nodded her agreement. "First geth, then an asari matriarch, followed by rachni. Just how I wanted to spend my day."

"Wait, rachni?" Garrus questioned. "Did I hear you correctly?"

"Yes, indeedy, Garrus," Allegra answered. "They were breeding rachni on Peak 15."

"_Why_?" Kaidan wondered.

"They found an egg and, well, you know how scientists are," Allegra said.

"The existence of rachni on Noveria was a surprise. Not a pleasant one," Cade interrupted. "At the moment, I'm more concerned about Liara."

The asari glanced up when she heard her name. "I will be fine, Shepard," she said quietly, meeting his eyes. "We had to kill her, I know this. I will grieve in my own time."

Cade nodded his understanding, then focused his attention back on the group. "Benezia told us Saren was looking for the Mu Relay. She gave us the coordinates, which she pulled from the rachni queen's memory."

"Do we head for the Mu Relay then, Commander?" Ashley asked.

"The Mu Relay could link to dozens of systems," Cade replied, shaking his head. "Unless we know exactly where Saren's going, we'd just be wasting our time."

"The commander is right," Liara spoke up. "We cannot rush off blind. We still need to learn more about Saren."

"Who put you in charge?" Ashley interrupted. "Did the commander resign when I wasn't looking?"

Allegra tried to hide her snort of amusement, earning a glare from Cade.

"We're all on the same team here, Williams," Cade said to Ashley, shifting his disapproving frown to her. "Liara's just trying to help."

"Sorry, Commander," Ashley apologized reluctantly.

"So, Feros then?" Allegra asked after a moment of tense silence.

"Actually, I think we should head back to the Citadel," Cade replied. "We could use the opportunity to restock and I'd like to report to the Council personally about Noveria."

"Maybe we could give everyone a few hours of shore leave," Allegra suggested. "Let 'em relax a little. Things have been pretty intense around here."

"I suppose a few hours wouldn't be too bad," Cade agreed.

Cade dismissed them. Allegra followed him out of the comm room and over to the galaxy map. As they pulled up the map to plot their course to the Citadel, Joker's voice sounded over the comm.

"Message coming in, Commander," Joker announced. "Patching it through."

"Commander Shepard, my name is Nassana Dantias," greeted a voice over the comm. "I have a job for you. I can't say any more in an unsecured communication. If you're interested in hearing my offer, meet me on the Citadel so we can talk in person. I'll be waiting in the diplomat's lounge on the Presidium."

"Convenient that we're headed to the Citadel," Allegra commented.

"What do you think? Should we check it out?"

"She said job, which implies credits, so . . . yes."

Cade grinned at her and hit the comm to tell Joker to head to the Citadel. "I don't know about you, but I'm famished," he said, switching off the comm.

"I hear wiping out a whole species will do that to you," Allegra replied.

"That was mostly your fault."

"No regrets."

* * *

When the Normandy docked at the Citadel, Cade gave the crew eight hours of shore leave. The ensuing rush to get off the ship was chaos, and Cade couldn't help chuckling at their excitement.

He slowly made his way up to the airlock to disembark, surprised to find Allegra chatting with Joker in the cockpit. Cade slowed to hear their conversation.

"Got a list for me, Joker?"

"Already transferred to your omni-tool, Commander."

"Please tell me you didn't put porn on the list again."

Joker laughed. "No, but the look on your face last time was priceless."

Allegra reached out to flick the brim of Joker's hat up, skewing the cap's placement on his head. "You sure you don't want to come this time? Use your shore leave for actual shore leave?"

"It would probably take me eight hours to hobble anywhere," Joker replied nonchalantly as he fixed his hat.

"Don't be an ass, Joker. I would carry you."

"You wouldn't really want to be seen carrying little old me all over the Citadel, would you?"

"Why? Because everyone else would be super jealous?"

Joker laughed at Allegra's comment. "Just go have an extra drink for me, okay?"

"Don't have to ask me twice. Oh, and Joker, no jerking off while no one's onboard." Allegra turned around, catching sight of Cade. "What?" she asked defensively as she walked towards him.

"When did you and Joker get so friendly?"

"We bonded over our mutual hatred of you, of course," Allegra grinned.

As the two stepped off the Normandy, Cade put on his serious voice. "Just be careful how flirty you get, Allegra. With anyone. I think Alenko is starting to get a crush on you."

"You don't say," Allegra replied, fighting a smile.

Cade studied her as they walked. "You already know that, don't you?"

"It's possible."

"Don't you dare lead him on, Allegra. He doesn't deserve that."

"I couldn't if I wanted to. Fraternization and all that."

"Are you serious? There's actually a rule that you're trying to follow?"

"Fuck off," Allegra groaned.

"You've never had much concern with fraternization before," Cade continued, ignoring her. "What's so different this time?"

"We're trying to save the galaxy of course!" Allegra joked.

"Who are you and what have you done with my twin sister? If the end of the world was really about to happen, the Allegra I know would go after what she wanted, damn the consequences. Hell, the Allegra I know would go after what she wanted any day of the week."

"I like him, okay," Allegra replied, frowning.

Cade shut his mouth with a loud _click_. "You like him," he repeated.

"Yes. He's different then the guys I'm normally interested in. He's the kind of guy who's in it for the long haul. I don't want to screw this up."

"So you're going to stay away from him?" Cade asked disbelievingly.

"While he's my subordinate, yes." Allegra looked up at him. "It's hard to deny myself something that I want, but Kaidan has a long career with the Alliance ahead of him and I don't want to ruin that for him."

"That's awfully mature of you, Allegra."

"I have my moments."

"Will you wait for me while I give my report to the Council? Then we can go for drinks or something."

"Sure thing, big brother."

Cade smiled as he led the way to the Presidium. Once they reached the Citadel tower, Cade was granted an immediate audience with the Council. Allegra waved him on ahead as she waited for him down the stairs.

"Is this report accurate, Commander?" the asari councilor greeted. "You found rachni on Noveria?"

"And then wiped them out?" the turian councilor added. "Do you enjoy committing genocide, Shepard?" he asked wryly.

Cade had a hard time fighting the urge to roll his eyes. It was impossible to please the Council. "It was them or me," he found himself saying. "The choice wasn't hard."

The salarian councilor decided to play peacemaker. "Just remember that your actions have consequences, Commander."

Cade could practically hear Allegra in his head sighing "_Duh, obviously_" and suppressed a sudden grin.

The council took more time to berate Cade for his choices and urging him to deal with Saren already. Cade usually had an easy time being diplomatic, but the council really knew how to push his buttons. He was beyond relieved when the meeting finally ended.

* * *

While Cade was in the meeting with the Council, Allegra paced restlessly through the middle of the room. She eyed the keeper just standing there, not entirely sure that it wasn't _watching_ her. Everyone swore the keepers minded their own business, but its eyes kept following her. Quickly stepping away from the creepy keeper, Allegra found herself next to an Alliance officer slapping his hand against a comm buoy in obvious frustration.

"Uh, is everything all right, sir?" she asked him warily.

The officer turned to look at her, recognizing her at once. "Commander Shepard, isn't it?" he asked. "Admiral Kahoku," he introduced himself.

"Is there something I can help you with?" Allegra wondered.

"Well I'm getting stonewalled by bureaucratic assholes, which is nothing new," Kahoku griped. "One of my recon teams was investigating some strange activity out in the Traverse. Yesterday, we lost contact with them and now I can't get clearance to check it out. It's somehow become a restricted area. I just want to know what happened to my team."

Allegra studied the admiral for a moment. "My brother was recently made a Spectre," she began. "A restricted area wouldn't be enough to keep him out. Maybe we could find out why your team dropped out of contact."

"I would be grateful, Commander. I'll stay here and see if I can find anything out through official channels. Won't hold my breath, though. Let me know if you get anywhere."

Allegra told him to upload any information he had to the Normandy. She promised to keep the admiral updated before quickly passing the creepy keeper (still standing in the exact same spot) and heading towards the fountain. Minutes later, Cade appeared. Before Allegra could mention Kahoku, he was dragging her off to the elevator.

"Where are we going?" Allegra asked.

"Diplomat's lounge," Cade answered, stepping into the elevator. "I figured while we're here, we may as well see what this Nassana Dantias wants."

"Is that the one who sent you the message about a job?"

"Yep. A few extra credits couldn't hurt, right?"

As the pair made their way to the diplomat's lounge, Allegra wondered how they would figure out who Nassana was. Would she point herself out to them? Allegra didn't even know what brand of alien Nassana was (though she was guessing asari).

"Which one is our contact?" Allegra asked Cade when they entered the lounge.

Cade scanned the area, noticing an asari sitting by herself near the bar. He strolled up to her, Allegra quickly following him. "Nassana Dantias?" he asked as he approached.

The asari looked up at them. "Commander Shepard," she greeted, her eyes never leaving Cade's face. "I see you got my message."

"You said you had a job offer?"

"I do," Nassana nodded. She beckoned Cade to sit next to her, leaning in and lowering her voice as soon as he was seated. Allegra scooted closer to hear her. "My sister Dahlia is a crewman on a cargo vessel operating on the fringes of the Traverse. Her ship was attacked by privateers with no reported survivors."

"You want us to hunt down the people who killed her?" Allegra asked.

"I don't go in for revenge work," Cade stated, making to stand up.

Nassana placed a hand on his arm, urging him back to his seat. "Dahlia is still alive," she said. "I received a message last week. The others on the ship were killed but my sister was taken prisoner. The slavers demanded a huge ransom from me in exchange for returning her unharmed. My family is very wealthy, Shepard. My sister probably told them who she was and the slavers decided she was worth more to them alive." Nassana sighed. "I've already transferred the funds to the account they specified but they won't release Dahlia. They haven't contacted me since."

"Criminals," Allegra muttered darkly. They couldn't be trusted; the asari should have realized that.

Nassana continued with some sob story about how she could end up in jail because she paid a ransom to the slavers (supposedly government representatives were forbidden by law to negotiate with terrorists). Allegra was bored by the pathetic speech, figuring Nassana brought this predicament upon herself. She had obviously been well aware of the law, but chose to ignore it.

Unfortunately, it seemed Cade was falling for her tale of woe. He agreed to find Dahlia and bring her back in exchange for a generous reward from Nassana. Allegra would be the last person to refuse a shitload of credits, but last she checked, they had a rogue Spectre to track down and no time for chasing a band of slavers around the galaxy. Pointing this out to Cade, though, got her nowhere.

"She's in a bad spot," Cade replied as they were headed back to the Normandy to go over Nassana's information. "We're able to help her, so why shouldn't we?"

"I just told you why we shouldn't!"

They spent the walk back to the Normandy arguing. This was such a regular thing for them to do that Allegra nearly burst out laughing. It sure made the walk go a lot quicker.

"Commander, an Admiral Kahoku uploaded some data for you," Joker greeted as the pair emerged from decontamination.

"Admiral Kahoku?" Cade repeated questioningly.

"Er, yeah," Allegra replied as Joker shrugged. "I told him we would find his missing recon team."

Cade pinned her with a heavy stare. "Was that not you who just spent the whole trip back up here yelling at me for agreeing to help someone?"

"But this is for an Alliance officer!" Allegra protested. "It's important."

"And if we can get those credits from Nassana, we'll be able to afford some better weapons and armor," Cade stated.

"But the _Alliance!_"

"I never realized you were so hot for the Alliance, Commander," Joker laughed.

"Shut it, you," Allegra hissed at the pilot.

Joker held his hands up in surrender and spun his chair around to face the console.

"All right, Cade. I'll be a big girl and compromise; I will stop harassing you about helping Nassana if you agree to help Admiral Kahoku."

"A few more missions to build team effectiveness wouldn't be a bad idea," Cade said slowly. "But we do need to get to Feros soon."

"Joker, send the data from Kahoku to my omni-tool, would you?" Allegra called to the pilot as she made her way towards the galaxy map.

"Sure thing, Commander," came Joker's reply.

Cade followed his sister to the galaxy map, glancing at her questioningly.

"Where did Nassana say the slavers were holding Dahlia?" Allegra asked him.

"She said she'd managed to track her to Sharjila."

"Sharjila . . ." Allegra muttered, studying the galaxy map. "That's in Artemis Tau." She checked her omni-tool for Kahoku's data. "Hah, talk about convenient. Kahoku said he lost contact with his team on Edolus which, get this, is also in the Artemis Tau cluster. And Artemis Tau is practically on our way to Feros." She pointed out the clusters to Cade on the map. "It's one relay in the opposite direction, but really that isn't bad." She paused thoughtfully. "I swear every other mission we get is in Artemis Tau. Wasn't T'Soni found on Therum in Artemis Tau?"

Cade chuckled. "Too bad we didn't know about Kahoku and Nassana's missions back then."

"You're telling me."

"Joker, once everyone is back onboard, we're heading to Sharjila in Artemis Tau." Cade turned back to Allegra. "Drinks?" he asked.

"Sure. But first I have to do Joker's shopping."

* * *

After the shopping adventure was completed, the twins wound up at Flux with Ashley, Kaidan, Tali, Garrus, and some of the other crew. They spent the last few hours of their shore leave dancing and gambling.

When everyone had made their way back to the Normandy (in rather high spirits), Joker got them back into space and headed towards their destination. Cade went to his terminal to do some research on Sharjila and the slavers who had captured Dahlia.

Joker got them to Sharjila faster than Cade had expected. He told Tali and Garrus to get ready, then headed to his locker to ready his own equipment.

Allegra appeared at his elbow, tapping him on the shoulder. "Be careful down there. I don't trust criminals."

"Neither do I," Cade replied.

Joker dropped the Mako off close to the slaver's base of operations. Garrus drove the Mako towards the base nice and slow.

"Looks like they've got a group keeping watch outside," Cade announced, peering through the window. "Tali, jump on the cannon. Let's surprise them."

The small group of slavers lingering outside the base were no match for the Mako's cannon. The three of them gained access to the building within minutes. As they entered the main room of the base, the slavers were alerted to their presence. They ducked behind cover and worked in synch to take the slavers out. It was relatively easy; Cade's team had superior skill and firepower. Their only real challenge came in the form of an asari slaver who enjoyed using her biotic skill on them. After a tense firefight, the slaver went down (Cade hadn't been worried; it was three against one after all) and Cade went searching through the base for a sign of Dahlia.

In an upstairs room, they found a console, but no sign of anyone else. Tali sat down at the console and started searching through the data on it. "Commander," she said after a minute. "The asari slaver we shot down . . . that was Dahlia Dantias."

"Nassana told me Dahlia had been captured by slavers," Cade replied, hurrying over to look at the data Tali had pulled up. "Not that Dahlia _was_ a slaver. Save this data, Tali. We need to confront Nassana with this and figure out what the hell is going on."

Tali nodded and stored the data to her omni-tool.

The team headed out of the base and radioed the Normandy for a pickup. Once out of decontamination, Cade told Joker to plot a course for Edolus to look for Kahoku's men while he searched through the data Tali had found on the slaver's console.

Edolus was close; the Normandy reached the planet in no time. Cade paused his reading to seek out Allegra. He wanted her to take point on this mission, something which should really make her happy.

Allegra couldn't quite believe it when he announced his intention.

"What? You want _me _to be in charge?"

"You were the one who told him we'd figure out what happened to his team," Cade pointed out.

"So you're going to let me lead? On my own?"

"Don't be so surprised. It's not like you haven't had plenty of experience."

"Do I get to pick who I take with me?"

"Of course, I'm not going to micromanage you," he laughed. "Now get down there and gather some good news for the Admiral, will you?"

Allegra grinned and hit the comm. "Joker, I get to lead my own mission!"

"Uh, that's great news, Commander," came the confused reply.

"Keep the Normandy flying like a pro, Joker."

"I am a 'pro', Commander."

Allegra released the comm, waved to Cade, and ran off towards the elevator. Cade met Pressley's eyes and the two men laughed in amusement.

* * *

Allegra restlessly paced the elevator as it made its slow journey downwards. When the door finally slid open, she burst out of it and rushed towards Ashley, yelling at Garrus as she passed. "Garrus, get the Mako ready! We're taking it planetside!"

"Aye, aye, Shepard," Garrus replied automatically.

"Ashley, Ashley, Ashley!" Allegra grinned at the stunned gunnery chief.

"Did someone spike your coffee?"

"Close. Cade's letting me take the lead on this mission."

Ashley grinned, "It's about fucking time."

"Suit up, girl, you're coming with me." Allegra turned towards Wrex and shouted, "Krogan, suit up! You've been sitting in the Normandy doing nothing for far too long."

Wrex punched his palm in excitement. Allegra giggled and turned back to Ashley. "Make sure our weapons are perfect, just in case we need to step off the Mako."

Half an hour later, Allegra, Ashley and Wrex dropped planetside in the Mako. Wrex brought up the map and marked Kahoku's coordinates on it. Allegra quickly studied the topography and smiled. "Excellent, some mountains in our way. Who's up for putting the Mako through its paces?"

Ashley cheered as Allegra floored it and the Mako shot forward.

Joker's voice sounded in Allegra's earpiece. "Garrus has asked me to remind you not to destroy his precious Mako."

"Pfft," Allegra replied, swerving over a steep hill so that the Mako went airborne. "It'll give him something to do if he has to fix it."

"Just the messenger, Commander."

"Don't crash the Normandy, Joker."

"Aye, aye."

Allegra took them in a relatively straight line to their destination. For the most part, the Mako was able to make it over the mountainous terrain, though it was a very bumpy ride. Luckily, Allegra noticed Wrex and Ashley were both enjoying the ride.

As they neared Kahoku's coordinates, the terrain suddenly flattened out. Allegra drove slowly onto the plain, searching for something, anything, that would point them in the right direction.

The ground trembled violently beneath them and Wrex ominously said, "Uh oh."

A giant head burst from the ground directly in front of them. "Thresher maw!" Allegra screamed as she quickly got the Mako out of the maw's path.

The thresher maw started spitting at them as Allegra steered them wildly around its body. "Ashley, man the machine gun. Wrex, the cannon!"

"I killed one of these on foot before," Wrex commented casually, firing off a blast at the giant thresher maw.

Allegra and Ashley gaped at him.

"Better move, Shepard," he said.

Allegra managed to just avoid the acid the maw spat at them. She forced Wrex's comment out of her mind and focused on driving. After a few more tense minutes, they managed to take down the maw with only minimal damage to the Mako (Garrus would be pleased).

"Look, over there," Ashley cried, pointing out the window. "There's a vehicle."

Allegra drove the Mako over to the spot Ashley had pointed out. "We're positive the thresher maw is dead, right?" she asked Wrex before they stepped out onto the planet.

Wrex nodded and the three piled out of the Mako.

Upon closer examination, there were dead bodies littering the ground around the military vehicle. "These are Alliance men," Ashley said quietly. "Kahoku's men."

"Looks like they were lured here by that distress beacon," Wrex grunted, motioning towards the beacon a little ways away.

"Who would place a distress beacon in the middle of a thresher maw nest?" Allegra asked, confused. "Something about this doesn't add up."

"We need to let Kahoku know what happened," Ashley said.

Allegra nodded in agreement. She went to turn the beacon off then they radioed for Joker to pick them up.

Once back on the Normandy, Allegra headed straight for Cade to discuss what they had discovered. "Someone planted a fake distress beacon in the middle of a thresher maw nest," she greeted.

Cade looked up sharply. "A thresher maw?"

"Don't worry, we killed it. Did you know Wrex has killed one on foot? Probably with his bare hands."

"We'll need to head back to the Citadel and let Kahoku know. I have a bone to pick with Nassana Dantias while we're there."

"You never did tell me what you found on Sharjila."

"According to this data Tali discovered, Nassana's sister was the leader of the slavers."

"What? Seriously? Why would she tell us differently?"

"That's my question. I wanted to head to Feros, but . . . maybe we should make a quick trip back to the Citadel?"

"No shore leave this time, Commander," Allegra smiled. "We'll make it a quick trip. I'll go let Joker know."

Allegra busied herself with paperwork during the trip to the Citadel. When the Normandy docked, only she and Cade disembarked. They immediately headed for the Citadel tower to find Admiral Kahoku.

The admiral was still trying his luck on the comm buoy in the tower. Kahoku looked up as Allegra and Cade approached. "Commanders," he greeted. "Any word on my missing men?"

"I found them," Allegra nodded. "They were killed by a thresher maw."

"A thresher maw?" Kahoku repeated, stunned. "That's not . . . my men wouldn't just stumble into a thresher nest! Not the entire unit!"

"Somebody lured them there with an Alliance distress beacon. It was placed right beside the nest."

Kahoku shook his head. "Damn it. An Alliance beacon used as bait, my unit wiped out and nobody seems to know anything about it!" He sighed. "Commander, I appreciate what you did. Thank you."

The admiral walked off, still shaking his head in astonishment.

"That was awkward," Allegra murmured.

"It's about to get a little more awkward. Time to go find Nassana," Cade replied.

The twins used the nearest rapid travel station to get a ride to the embassy. The diplomat's lounge was a quick walk away, where, luckily, Nassana was still waiting for them.

"Shepard, did you find my sister?" she greeted when she saw them approaching.

"Dahlia's dead, Nassana. I killed her myself," Cade replied. "Turns out, she was one of the slavers, not a victim."

"Better start talking, Nassana," Allegra growled.

"No need to raise your voice, Commander," Nassana said, glancing around them. "I'm sure you can understand why I lied to you. If it was discovered that my sister was a criminal, I'd be considered a security risk. My clearance would be revoked or I'd be forced on administrative leave until she was apprehended. I couldn't risk you exposing me, so I misled you. But now Dahlia is out of the picture."

"You hired me to kill your own sister?" Cade said in disbelief.

"That's low, Nassana. Even I wouldn't do something like that," Allegra commented.

"I am sorry I wasn't honest with you. We have trust issues in my family," Nassana continued.

"Obviously," Allegra snapped.

"I shall transfer a little something into your account as a token of my appreciation," Nassana said, ignoring Allegra. "I'm sure you'll find the amount satisfactory."

"Let's get out of here," Cade said, turning to leave.

"What a bitch," Allegra spat. "Hiring us like we were simple mercs."

"We should have seen this coming."

"I need a strong drink. Can we stop by Chora's Den?"

Cade eyed her curiously.

"What? It's not like I want to ogle the strippers. They just make this mean mixed drink that I can never remember the name of."

"All right, lead the way."

They were nearly to Chora's Den when a loud shout stopped them in their tracks. "Commander Shepard!"

Both Allegra and Cade looked over to see a man waving enthusiastically at them. They looked at each other, then cautiously approached the man.

"Wow, both Commander Shepards," the man breathed in excitement. "I'm Conrad Verner. I am so honored to meet you! They say you both killed more than a hundred geth on Eden Prime!"

"I spent most of the time trying to stay alive and help the colonists," Cade replied.

"And I was too busy killing geth to count how many," Allegra added.

Conrad focused on Cade as he said, "There are rumors on the extranet that you've been made the first human Spectre! That's incredible!"

"Being a Spectre is a big responsibility. I just want to make humanity proud," Cade replied diplomatically.

"The vids are all talking about "Commander Shepard fighting for all of us back home". And they also say that you don't take crap from anybody. You're showing them what humans can do."

"Sounds more like my sister they're talking about," Cade chuckled.

Allegra shoved him in response.

"Hey I know you're probably busy, but do you have time for a quick autograph?"

"Anything for a fan," Cade smiled, signing his name for Conrad.

"Thanks I really appreciate it. My wife is going to be so impressed." He looked at Allegra expectantly.

"What? No way, I don't do stuff like that."

Conrad's face fell. But he didn't give up. "Can I get your picture then?" he asked hopefully.

"Why would I let you take a picture if I wouldn't give you an autograph?" Allegra asked in exasperation.

"Come on, Allegra, one picture," Cade wheedled.

"Why would you want a picture anyway?" she grumbled.

"You're a hero, Shepard. Both of you are! Decades from now, humanity is going to remember you and _I'll_ have your picture."

"Fine," Allegra agreed reluctantly.

Conrad directed them to stand next to each other and pose with their weapons out. "Just hold up your gun. Perfect." He quickly snapped the photo with his omni-tool. "Thanks again, Commander. I'm going to hang this in my living room. My wife will love it! I'll let you get back to work now. Bye!"

As Conrad walked off, Allegra turned to Cade. "Now I _really_ need a drink."

* * *

**A/N:** Apologies would never be enough. But I'll say it anyway: I'm sorry. Everything is planned for this story, I just need to get it written in story format. Unless, you know, you guys like reading outlines.


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